[外電] Clippers Gain by Losing to Seattle
Clippers Gain by Losing to Seattle
By Jason Reid, Times Staff Writer
April 17, 2006
And now, on to the second phase of the plan.
The Clippers succeeded in securing home-court advantage for the first
round of the Western Conference playoffs, but their work is only half
done.
The Clippers also must finish in the sixth-seeded playoff position to
use their potential edge, and they moved closer to that goal Sunday
night with a 114-98 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics.
With center Chris Kaman and swingman Cuttino Mobley sidelined because
of injuries, the SuperSonics controlled things from the start, leading
by as many as 19 points in the first half, 30 after halftime and
winning easily in the Clippers' final regular-season game at Staples
Center.
Ray Allen scored 21 points for Seattle (34-46), which lost to the
Clippers, 101-97, Friday at Seattle. Elton Brand scored 22 points for
the Clippers, Sam Cassell had 12 points and seven assists, and Shaun
Livingston contributed 18 off the bench.
The loss ended the team's bid to match the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves, who
finished 49-33, for the best mark in franchise history, but there were
some positives.
The Clippers (46-34) dropped a game behind the fifth-seeded Memphis
Grizzlies in the playoff standings.
If the teams finished with identical records, the Grizzlies, who play
host to the Clippers on Tuesday at FedEx Forum, have the tiebreaker
edge.
The Grizzlies' "magic number" is one to clinch the No. 5 spot.
As the Clippers approach the finish, it's all about playoff positioning.
"Finishing sixth is a great thing," Brand said. "The way the seedings
run and the records run, we'd have home-court advantage. With the
playoffs, I'm hearing that's a big thing…. You want as much home court
as possible."
They also want to play Denver.
The Clippers won the last three games against the Nuggets in taking
the season series, 3-1.
Privately, many in the organization expressed hope that the team, which
occupied the fifth spot for most of the second half of the season,
would fall to sixth to avoid a first-round encounter with the fourth-
place team, either the San Antonio Spurs or Dallas Mavericks.
San Antonio occupies the conference's top spot and Dallas is fourth.
The Clippers went 2-1 against the Spurs, are 0-3 against the Mavericks
and finish the regular season at Dallas on Wednesday.
"We'll get home-court advantage at six, so it's nice for a young team
to open up at home," said Sam Cassell, who has appeared in 103
postseason games.
"I'd prefer to start the playoffs off at home. I think everybody in
this locker room would prefer the same thing.
"It's not that Denver is the lesser team; they're not. We've had some
hard-fought games with the Nuggets. It's a new season with playoff
basketball. Anything is liable to happen, so we wouldn't take those
guys lightly at all."
Since the Clippers will either finish with a better record than Denver
or have the tiebreaker advantage if the teams finish tied, they will
get home-court advantage even though the Nuggets, as a division winner,
will be seeded higher.
Coach Mike Dunleavy has dismissed speculation it would benefit the
Clippers to fade down the stretch, reaffirming they always play to win.
In one stretch of the first half Sunday, the lineup included rookie
guard Daniel Ewing, rookie forward James Singleton and rookie center
Boniface Ndong. Dunleavy acknowledged that Kaman and Mobley would have
played Sunday if the Clippers were "in a Game 7" of a playoff series.
"I don't think [playoff positioning] has anything to do with it," Kaman
said of why he sat out against Seattle. "I don't think coach wants guys
to get lackadaisical.
"He wants everybody to play…. I just need a little more rest for my
knee."
--
你們認為海南高高在上，位於雲端嗎？他們真的就這麼高不可攀嗎？
他們的成績的確是有目共睹的。以他們過去的戰績來看，我們和海南的確有天壤之別。
但是----
我在睡前，都會想像著有一天......
我每晚都在腦裡描繪我們和海南大學附屬高中參加IH的戰況。
從那一年前起，每晚都如此！
--
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