<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=750 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class="" vAlign=top width=560>A lot has happened since the Clippers last advanced in the playoffs
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=7><SPACER height="1" width="1" type="block"></TD></TR><TR><TD class=yspsctnhdln>A lot has happened since the Clippers last advanced in the playoffs</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER height="1" width="1" type="block"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>By Mike Lopresti USA TODAY
4/20/2006 1:49:08 PM</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Attention, all lovers of lost causes, all champions of the downtrodden and underclass. Do we have a bandwagon for you.
The NBA playoffs start this weekend. And the Los Angeles Clippers are invited.
That's like admitting the neighborhood mongrel to the Westminster Kennel Club. Or a 20-handicap D flighter teeing off at Augusta. Not an NBA aficionado and current on your playoff history? Let's explain it this way:
The cicadas show up in the spring nearly as often as the Clippers.
Lots of promising storylines begin Saturday. The Spurs trying to repeat. The Pistons as favorites. LeBron James' postseason debut. The Lakers back in the playoffs with Kobe Bryant appearing nightly as Michael Jordan. The Suns as dark horses. Or the Mavs. Or the Nets.
But first, let us offer best wishes to the franchise that last won a playoff series when Gerald Ford was president.
That would be 1976. The Los Angeles Clippers were the Buffalo Braves. Since then, they have gone through five more presidents - not to mention three cities, five arenas and 20-odd coaches.
Also, enough losses to fill an oil tanker.
How can your heart not go out to an organization that just had its third winning season in 30 years? That went 9-41 in the strike-delayed season in 1999, and did not win a game until March 11? That went 12-70 in 1987, including 3-38 on the road?
The Clippers migrated from San Diego to Los Angeles in 1984, hoping for a better life. All that meant was sharing the same space with the Lakers. It was like parking a Pinto next to a BMW.
In the 22 seasons since L.A. became a two-team town, the Lakers have won six world championships. The Clippers have won four playoff games. The Lakers once beat the Clippers 16 straight times. They are 80-23 against the Clippers since 1984.
The Lakers stockpiled stars and celebrity season ticket holders. The Clippers stockpiled lottery draft picks that went bust. No enterprise in all of sport has been easier to ridicule than the Clippers. In the dictionary, next to the word "inept," was the Clippers team picture.
Would it ever change? Maybe now it has.
These Clippers went 47-35. And using the hocus-pocus of the NBA seeding system, they have home court advantage in the first round against Denver, even though they are No. 6, and the Nuggets are No. 3. That's because Denver was automatically granted No. 3 because it won its division, but the Clippers have a better record.
Whatever. Wherever. The Clippers are in the playoffs, for the first time since 1997, and will almost certainly win their first postseason game since 1993, when the coach was Larry Brown, about four job changes ago.
What is not to love about the Clippers, or the fans that have suffered for so long, and now finally find out how expensive playoff tickets are? They have an inside force from the mid-majors (Central Michigan's Chris Kaman) and half the roster seems to come from Duke. Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Daniel Ewing. Coach Mike Dunleavy's son played at Duke.
Their wise man at guard is Sam Cassell, who is 36 and on his seventh NBA team. What better way to age than to lead a team to where it hasn't been in generations?
So the Clippers could be America's darlings. Their hard luck past is more familiar to most of us than, say, the limo ride through history of the Lakers. Speaking of which. The two could even meet in a later round. The Figueroa Street series. Who here would want Clippers' caps?
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=7><SPACER height="1" width="1" type="block"></TD></TR><TR><TD class=yspsctnhdln>A lot has happened since the Clippers last advanced in the playoffs</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER height="1" width="1" type="block"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>By Mike Lopresti USA TODAY
4/20/2006 1:49:08 PM</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Attention, all lovers of lost causes, all champions of the downtrodden and underclass. Do we have a bandwagon for you.
The NBA playoffs start this weekend. And the Los Angeles Clippers are invited.
That's like admitting the neighborhood mongrel to the Westminster Kennel Club. Or a 20-handicap D flighter teeing off at Augusta. Not an NBA aficionado and current on your playoff history? Let's explain it this way:
The cicadas show up in the spring nearly as often as the Clippers.
Lots of promising storylines begin Saturday. The Spurs trying to repeat. The Pistons as favorites. LeBron James' postseason debut. The Lakers back in the playoffs with Kobe Bryant appearing nightly as Michael Jordan. The Suns as dark horses. Or the Mavs. Or the Nets.
But first, let us offer best wishes to the franchise that last won a playoff series when Gerald Ford was president.
That would be 1976. The Los Angeles Clippers were the Buffalo Braves. Since then, they have gone through five more presidents - not to mention three cities, five arenas and 20-odd coaches.
Also, enough losses to fill an oil tanker.
How can your heart not go out to an organization that just had its third winning season in 30 years? That went 9-41 in the strike-delayed season in 1999, and did not win a game until March 11? That went 12-70 in 1987, including 3-38 on the road?
The Clippers migrated from San Diego to Los Angeles in 1984, hoping for a better life. All that meant was sharing the same space with the Lakers. It was like parking a Pinto next to a BMW.
In the 22 seasons since L.A. became a two-team town, the Lakers have won six world championships. The Clippers have won four playoff games. The Lakers once beat the Clippers 16 straight times. They are 80-23 against the Clippers since 1984.
The Lakers stockpiled stars and celebrity season ticket holders. The Clippers stockpiled lottery draft picks that went bust. No enterprise in all of sport has been easier to ridicule than the Clippers. In the dictionary, next to the word "inept," was the Clippers team picture.
Would it ever change? Maybe now it has.
These Clippers went 47-35. And using the hocus-pocus of the NBA seeding system, they have home court advantage in the first round against Denver, even though they are No. 6, and the Nuggets are No. 3. That's because Denver was automatically granted No. 3 because it won its division, but the Clippers have a better record.
Whatever. Wherever. The Clippers are in the playoffs, for the first time since 1997, and will almost certainly win their first postseason game since 1993, when the coach was Larry Brown, about four job changes ago.
What is not to love about the Clippers, or the fans that have suffered for so long, and now finally find out how expensive playoff tickets are? They have an inside force from the mid-majors (Central Michigan's Chris Kaman) and half the roster seems to come from Duke. Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Daniel Ewing. Coach Mike Dunleavy's son played at Duke.
Their wise man at guard is Sam Cassell, who is 36 and on his seventh NBA team. What better way to age than to lead a team to where it hasn't been in generations?
So the Clippers could be America's darlings. Their hard luck past is more familiar to most of us than, say, the limo ride through history of the Lakers. Speaking of which. The two could even meet in a later round. The Figueroa Street series. Who here would want Clippers' caps?
