Christie says he isn’t done

Doug Christie, a King in the heyday of Sacramento’s rivalry with the Lakers when he and Rick Fox once fought in an exhibition game, left that city two seasons ago with bone spurs in his heel as well as a broken heart.

After starting seven games for the Dallas Mavericks last season, the injury forced him out but even at 37, he didn’t consider himself retired, even if everyone else did.

“I never in my mind said one thing or the other,” Christie said before Wednesday’s game. “My first thing was to get healthy and that’s what I wanted to do.”

Christie started to work out for teams needing injury replacements this season. The Clippers, worried about Corey Maggette’s sore knees, asked him how quick he could get here.

“We liked what we saw as far as him being in shape,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “He’s in great shape. He shot the ball really well. The guy’s been a terrific defender his whole career. We’ll give it a try and see what he looks like....He hasn’t lost knowing what to do and how to do it.”

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The Chicago Bulls were a favorite in the East after signing Ben Wallace, but even in a conference with no one on a 50-win pace, they started Wednesday’s game against the Clippers as the No. 3 team.

“We’ve played so well the last two years with young players,” said Coach Scott Skiles, “but if you look historically and you look around the league this year, teams playing a lot of young players get beat. That’s the nature of the NBA.

“Our young players have played well and we’ve won and so people think, you just snap your fingers and sign somebody and now you should take the next step and the next step and the next step. Sometimes it doesn’t work that way.”

mark.heisler@latimes.com