Lakers and Clippers are seeing spots
Two victories in March, 9-24 on the road this season and 6-17 against the top eight teams in the Western Conference standings.
That’s how the Clippers expect to earn a playoff berth?
“Yeah, we haven’t taken care of our business,” Elton Brand said. “We’ve been saying it all along, we can’t expect these other teams to do our work for us, we’ve got to go out there and start getting some wins. But the crazy thing is, we’re still in it.”
With 16 games left, the Clippers (30-36) are ninth in the conference, one game behind the Golden State Warriors for the eighth and final playoff spot.
The Clippers are considered among the NBA’s most underachieving teams, but qualifying for the playoffs would improve their outlook on a frustrating season.
“We’ve only had a few games where we’ve played like we’re capable of playing, where we’ve put it all together,” Corey Maggette said. “Lately, we’ve been doing a lot of positive things, but it’s only about the bottom line now.”
The Clippers are 2-7 this month. They have nine games left at Staples Center (they’ll be the visiting team April 12 against the Lakers) and seven on the road. Of the Clippers’ upcoming opponents, nine have winning records.
The team is 1-3 on a six-game, 10-day trip that continues tonight against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.
“What makes it really frustrating is that we’ve had opportunities to put ourselves in a better position,” Chris Kaman said. “There are so many games we could have won if we had just made a play here or a play there, but we didn’t.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors have won three in a row and six of seven to bump the Clippers from eighth to ninth. Golden State has 14 games left (seven at home and seven on the road), nine against teams with records above .500.
“You keep waiting for someone to get hot and create some separation, and I’d like it to be us,” Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “There are a lot of teams that were struggling because of injuries, and a lot of different reasons, so the fact is that nobody’s too far out of the playoffs or too far out of moving up a couple positions in the seeding.
“We’ve been playing well, unfortunately it hasn’t translated totally into wins, which is the main criteria right now. Everybody that you look at ... each team has a story. Each team has somebody injured, or there’s some dynamic going on that you’re sitting there saying, ‘That’s tough, I understand that.’ ”
The Clippers are still vying to reach the postseason despite losing Shaun Livingston to a career-threatening knee injury and playing 16 games without fellow guard Sam Cassell.
Cassell was inactive the first two games of the trip because of an abdominal injury and might sit out tonight’s game against the Bulls because of back spasms.
He was the Clippers’ closer in their run to the Western Conference semifinals last season, making clutch shots late in close victories. As the Lakers could attest from watching Kobe Bryant’s work recently, closers sometimes provide the difference in teams reaching the playoffs or beginning vacation early.
“I know this basketball team needs me to do what I do, but my body just hasn’t been right all year, my body is hurting,” said Cassell, 37. “Each day, I’m compensating for one particular injury, and then something else gets worse.
“I really don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this ... how much longer my body can take this. I’m going to keep doing it as long I can because we’re still in it. I’m not thinking about shutting it down as long as we still have a chance.”
*
TONIGHT
at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. PDT, Channel 5
Site -- United Center.
Radio -- 710.
Records -- Clippers 30-36, Bulls 39-29.
Record vs. Bulls -- 1-0.
Update -- Elton Brand scored 26 points Jan. 31 in a 110-98 victory over the Bulls at Staples Center. Tim Thomas had 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Stretch drive
A look at four teams battling for Western Conference playoff spots with number of games remaining and against teams with winning records (through Monday).
*--* 6. LAKERS
*--*
* Record: 35-32
* Games remaining: 15; Home 8, Away 7
* With winning records: 5
*--* 7. DENVER
*--*
* Record: 33-31
* Games remaining: 18; Home 5, Away 13
* With winning record: 10
*--* 8. GOLDEN STATE
*--*
* Record: 32-36
* Games remaining: 14; Home 7, Away 7
* With winning records: 9
*--* 9. CLIPPERS
*--*
* Record: 30-36
* Games remaining: 16; Home 8, Away 8
* With winning records: 9
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