After a stunning buzzer-beating 92-90 win against the Boston Celtics, the emotional roller coaster known as the 2009 NBA season continues for Los Angeles Clippers fans. Baron Davis had one of his best games as a Clipper with 24 points, 13 assists and 3 steals, all capped off with his last second game-winner. (ClipperBlog has video of the shot)
The last two games are a perfect snapshot of the tumultuous season so far, as a Christmas day game against the Phoenix Suns knocked the wind out of most Clips fans after the Suns laid a 31-point smackdown on LA. The loss understandably made most fans shudder at the thought of another year spiraling into sucktitude, so to say anyone could honestly have foreseen a win against Boston is a huge understatement.
Sure the Clippers inexplicably play them well (LA has won four of the last seven meetings) and last year’s upset was a classic for Clipper Nation, but most of the storylines floating through Los Angeles were quickly turning pessimistic and calling for a merciful (for fans) end to the Mike Dunleavy era. Celtics fan (and Clipper sympathizer) Bill Simmons predicted not only a Boston blowout on his Twitter, but also a long overdue Dunleavy firing in several consecutive tweets.
Clippers point guard Baron Davis hits the buzzer-beating game winner over the Boston Celtics.
(AP Photo/Jeff Lewis)
You don’t need to be a brain surgeon to agree with his arguments; “Dunleavy now 206-315 (.395) with Clips,” he tweeted. “Only Wes Unseld (202-345, .369) coached more games with 1 team with a sub-.400 winning percentage.” Anyone who has watched a Clipper game during his tenure has undoubtedly done a facepalm or several hundred.
Whether it was him putting rusty rookie Daniel Ewing in against Raja Bell and the Suns to give up a game-tying/series changing 3-pointer in the 2006 playoffs or any bucketful of questionable choices since then, he’s the villain in Clipperville. That Daniel Ewing video still brings anger and misery to my heart. Seriously.
Luckily for him (thus far at least), Donald Sterling may be the only person more incompetent at his job than him, so he continues to survive despite his futility. If you’ve been to any games this year, you’ll definitely have noticed that assistant coach John Lucas has clearly been working with the players a lot and seems to be more in tune with them, a fact illustrated by Baron Davis’ postgame comments in last night’s ESPN “Daily Dime” article.
“[Ricky Davis is] a guy who doesn’t really get an opportunity to play a lot, but he’s a very smart individual and he knows the game,” Davis said (via J.A. Adande). “A lot of times, he’s out there and he sees things. If I’m not going to Coach Lucas, I’m going to Ricky. From a player’s standpoint, I always ask him what he sees.”
It’s safe to say Boom Dizzle probably doesn’t count Dunleavy as one of his basketball gurus. So until the glorious day that a new “official” coach arrives, we’ll have to continue to hope Lucas and the rest of the Clippers players can find ways to win games.
Lets go back to the Suns game now, as it served as a reminder of not just how much ridicule Clipper fans have to tolerate, but the painful reality behind many of the jokes. Popular satire website TheOnion.com released a video earlier this year roasting the Clippers and their fans’ suffering. In the video (below) the Clippers are down 30 points to the Suns (sound familiar?) and saved from the loss only by the collapse of the Staples Center. The video is admittedly harsh, but its hard to deny how easy it is to relate to the themes that inspired the piece.
It’s impossible to tell which Clipper team will show up on a nightly basis, especially given the last two games, so we’ll have to wait and see where we go from here. All we do know for sure is that two of the next three are against the injury-ravaged Portland Trailblazers and Elton Brand will make his return to Staples with the Sixers on New Years Eve.
With less than a week left in 2009 and a fanbase anxious to see the Clippers put the past behind them, a win against Brand could be the night LA finally puts another one of its infamous demons to rest.
To read part 8 of “Diary of an LA Clippers Fan” click here.
-Will.
“Diary of a Clippers Fan” will be published Mondays and Thursdays during the regular season.
