04/14/26 10:41:00
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04/14 07:52 CDT Clippers' stunning turnaround: From 6-21 to the play-in and a
shot at the playoffs
Clippers' stunning turnaround: From 6-21 to the play-in and a shot at the
playoffs
By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) --- Tyronn Lue managed a small smile as he considered
the kind of season it's been for the Los Angeles Clippers.
"A lot," the coach said.
After a 6-21 start, the Clippers have scrapped their way into the play-in
tournament. They finished 42-40, extending their NBA-best active streak of
consecutive winning seasons to 15. They're the first team in league history to
be 15 or more games under .500 and still end with a winning record.
"Usually a team deals with adversity maybe once or twice throughout a season,"
Lue said, "but not five or six times."
The Clippers host Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in a play-in game
Wednesday night. The winner moves on to an elimination game Friday. The loser
goes home for the summer.
"Pretty remarkable turnaround," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "I know Ty
well. One of his strengths is just staying the course and really keeping the
guys on an even keel, and that's not easy to do when you're 6-21."
The Clippers' woes weren't just on the court.
Kawhi Leonard and the team remain the subject of a league investigation that
began last September into whether the Clippers circumvented the NBA's salary
cap to pay Leonard as part of an endorsement deal with a now-bankrupt sponsor.
There's no timetable for the outside law firm looking into the matter to wrap
up.
The Clippers have said they welcome the investigation and have denied any
wrongdoing.
"It doesn't impact anything we do on a daily basis," Lawrence Frank, president
of basketball operations, said in February. "We know it's out there, we know at
some point there'll be a decision made."
The starting lineup took a blow in the early weeks of the season when Bradley
Beal suffered a season-ending fracture that required surgery.
After warmly welcoming Chris Paul back to the franchise last fall, the team
banished him in December.
He was sent home from a road trip in a sudden move. The 40-year-old future Hall
of Fame point guard had aimed to retire with the Clippers after his 21st NBA
season.
Then came the February trade deadline, and the Clippers shed their label as the
league's oldest team by trading away 36-year-old James Harden and longtime fan
favorite Ivica Zubac.
At times, it seemed the upheaval would overshadow their hosting of All-Star
weekend at their 2-year-old arena.
Lue credited his players' resiliency for their ability to withstand a
roller-coaster season.
"To not give up, not give in, it just shows a lot about the guys in the locker
room that care to what they bring every single day," he said.
Kerr compared the Clippers' resurgence to the 1977-78 Seattle SuperSonics, who
began with a dismal 5-17 mark that got their coach fired and under new coach
Lenny Wilkens finished 47-35. They reached the NBA Finals that season before
winning the franchise's only championship the following year.
No one is predicting that kind of playoff run for the Clippers, but they've
already survived an improbable set of circumstances.
"We always knew we were a better team that what we were showing," veteran Brook
Lopez said, "but to go out there and prove it, it's a nice little honor."
___
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