There’s No Quit (or W) in Clippers

The question for the Clippers, one that should be answered within a few weeks, is whether they’re here to entertain or here to win.

Now that they have so many players capable of making pretty plays --like Darius Miles’ flying dunk, Lamar Odom’s swift baseline moves or Quentin Richardson’s spinning left-handed bank shot against Vancouver Thursday night--it remains to be seen how capable they are of doing enough of the mundane stuff it takes to produce victories.

So far it’s two losses in two games, the latest a 99-91 setback to the Grizzlies at Staples Center.

And maybe it’s a time for slightly reduced expectations, as evidenced by Coach Alvin Gentry’s comments before the game.

“I would hope . . . when the fans walk out of here, they say, ‘Those guys played as hard as they possibly could,’ � Gentry said.

That would be more than they could say after most games last season. It’s what they could say after the Clippers battled back to make the final score a lot closer than it had to be.

And it’s a start. What made Tyrone Nesby so effective his rookie year was making the garbage plays, picking up loose balls and scoring easy baskets simply by hustling and being in the right place at the right time.

“I just hope the young guys can be that way, too,� Nesby said. “I hope they remember we are here to play and to win.�

It’s a little funny to hear Nesby, all of 24, talking about young guys. But on this squad his two full seasons in the league give him more experience than almost half of the roster.

With three rookies and two second-year players, this could take a while.

The Clippers got a quick lesson from the masters of trickery on opening night, courtesy of the Utah Jazz. The Clippers lost their composure, Odom and Michael Olowokandi got ejected and they wound up falling to the Jazz.

They can’t let all those annoying elbows and hooks from the Jazz get to them. That stuff drives everyone crazy. The Lakers were muttering about Utah’s tactics after they lost to the Jazz Wednesday night, but they didn’t let it distract them during the game. They fought back from a dismal first half to give themselves a chance to win. That’s what veteran players can do, even on the nights things aren’t going their way.

The Clippers haven’t established an offensive philosophy yet. With teams such as the Lakers, the Jazz and the San Antonio Spurs, you know exactly what you’re going to get. It’s a matter of stopping it. The Clippers can’t tell you how they’re going to hurt you. It sort of comes to them as they go along.

At times the Clippers don’t do enough to make Odom the focal point of the offense. It shouldn’t be too hard, since he can bring it up or go down in the low post against smaller players.

But all too often he lingers around the perimeter while someone else goes one-on-one.

In the NBA, you go to the mismatch over and over and over again, no matter how redundant it might seem.

The problem is, all of the newcomers are used to being the mismatch guy. They’ll have to realize that now they’re not always the best scoring option--or even the second or third option at times.

The best thing about putting the ball in Odom’s hands is he can do so much with it, even if he’s not scoring. But to take full advantage of his passing skills, the Clippers will have to master another skill: moving without the ball.

In the interim, the Clippers found something that worked in the fourth quarter, when they either let Odom take his man or went directly to Olowokandi in the post.

The only definitive pattern to emerge from the first two games is that Gentry has to find a way to get Corey Maggette more playing time. Maggette has scored 26 points in 30 minutes and was on the floor making key plays on offense and defense when the Clippers made a late push Wednesday.

Winning begins on defense, of course, and the Clippers certainly should understand that point after their second-half surge against the Grizzlies.

There were some encouraging signs, such as Sean Rooks hustling to the sideline to block a shot and Nesby performing some of his old tricks by swooping in to tip in a missed shot during a third-quarter Clipper run.

And there was evidence of the youthful enthusiasm, showcased by Miles jumping up and down after making a beautiful fastbreak give-and-go pass to Maggette for a layup.

But that wasn’t nearly enough to overcome a 21-point deficit and 20 turnovers.

“We’ve just got to understand the way we played in the second half is the way we’ve got to play for 48 minutes,� Gentry said.

Losing to Vancouver shouldn’t carry the same sting it once did. Even though the Grizzlies don’t have veterans with winning track records themselves, under new coach Sidney Lowe they’re starting to show that it can come together.

The Grizzlies at least have two players who won an NCAA championship in Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson. That’s a higher level of winning than most young players entering the league have on their resume.

Somewhere along the way you have to acquire the knowledge of how to win. The Clippers will have to do it in the NBA, the slow and hard way.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected].