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Page B6
May 03. 2006
S ports
30 Years Later, Clippers Win a Playoff Blazer on Friendship Team
Could face fellow
LA Lakers next
(A P) - The Los Angeles Clippers were a
happy bunch alter putting an end to a 30-year
drought of never w inning a playoff series.
C uttino Mobley and Corey M aggette each
scored 23 points. Elton Brand added 2 1 points
and 13 rebounds, and the Clippers took com
mand in the third quarter to beat the Denver
Nuggets 101-83 M onday night and win the
first-round best-of-seven W estern C onference
series 4-1.
M obley pumped his fists repeatedly in the
final minute, and his team m ates waved at the
Staples Center fans, who s U mk I and cheered a s
the final seconds ticked off.
“W e've got to keep winning," Mobley said
afterw ard in a somewhat subdued locker room.
“ I saw what we had in training cam p," fellow
new com er Sam Cassell said. "This team was in
a lot o f gam es last year. They just didn’t have
guys to finish gam es.”
They do now, in the veteran backcourt com bo
o f Mobley and Cassell, but finishing w asn't an
issue in the series finale.
The Clippers h adn't won a playoff series
since 1976, when the team was playing in Buf
falo with Coach Jack Ramsey and beat the
Philadelphia76ers in the opening round before
losing to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern
C onference semifinals.
T he franchise m oved to San D iego in
1978. then to Los A ngeles in 1984. T he C lip
pers are in the playoffs for ju st the seventh
tim e in their 3 6-year h istory, o nly the fourth
tim e since heading w est, and the first tim e in
nine years.
The franchise was 13-22 in the postseason
entering these playoffs, including 9-13 while
playing in Buffalo.
“For the organization, it’s a trem endous
accom plishm ent," said third-year coach Mike
Dunleavy. " It's been a long time since this has
happened. But for me, it's the vision I had. My
Portland Trail B lazer Ha
Seung-Jin will join NBA play
ers in Shanghai, People’s Re
public o f C hina on June 8-11 to
participate in Basketball w ith
out Borders basketball camps.
Ha Seung-Jin is the first
South Korean to play in the
NBA, and is one o f several cur
rent and form er NBA players
along with team personnel to
coach Basketball W ithout B or
ders.
The global basketball in
structional cam p for young
people prom otes friendship,
healthy living and education
w ithanem phasisonH IV /A ID S
aw areness and prevention.
The cam ps visit four conti-
Ha Seung-Jin
n e n ts th is y e a r, a r r iv in g in
Lithuania and Puerto Rico for the
first time.
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Los Angeles Clippers' Sam Cassell in the final minutes against the Denver Nuggets,
as the Clippers won 101-83 in Game 5 of the first-round of the NBA basketball
playoffs. (APphoto)
philosophy through it all is you have to defend
to be good.”
And defend the Clippers did, holding the
Nuggets under40 percent from the floor in four
of the five gam es in this series.
“ It’s ju st a great feeling." said Brand, who
played in 544 regular-season gam es before
making his playoff debut April 22. "It's still kind
o f surreal. I might not appreciate it until we start
the second round.”
The Clippers meet the w inner of the Lakers-
Suns series. Should the Clippers face the Lak
ers, it w ould be the first postseason meeting
ever between Los A ngeles teams in the NBA,
NFL or m ajor league baseball.
Cassell was one C lipper who made it clear
w ho h e'd like to face next.
“I was always a L aker fan - Magic Johnson,
Jam es W orthy, my main man N orm Nixon,”
Cassell said. "Kobe Bryant’s my favorite player.
Il would be the battle o f Hollyw ood - it would
be great for the city.”
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