Heisler: ‘Clipper Time’ in L.A. at last … Well, for a Moment There it Was

LOS ANGELES — It’s Clipper time, at last, in L.A., or was.

No. 3 seeds in the Western draw, with the town to themselves, at last, after finishing 30 games ahead of their cross-town rivals, the former Lakers, the Clippers had it all going for them, at last…

Well, at least until they tipped off Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors, who didn’t have Andrew Bogut although they supposedly did have all sorts of internal issues, who nevertheless held themselves together long enough to pull off a 109-105 upset in Staples Center.

“When you look at the makeup of this basketball team individually and collectively, they’re fighters,” said Coach Mark Jackson. “Top to bottom, we’ve got a bunch of guys that survey says we’re not supposed to be here.”

Game 2 is at Staples Center on Monday.

Games 3-4 are in Oracle Arena, the little house of bedlam where the Clippers lost both of this season’s games. Sometimes, the Warriors fight amongst themselves, as when Jackson demoted assistant coach Brian Scalabrine to their D-League team in Santa Cruz late in the season.

Banding together in the nick of time, they’re now directing their hostility toward the opposition, starting even before they saw the whites of the Clippers’ eyes when Klay Thompson let himself be led into putting all their objections to Blake Griffin on the record.

“He is a good guy off the court, but he probably just–I mean–plays pretty physical and flops a little bit,” Thompson said.

“He flairs his arm around so you know you might catch a random elbow or something that doesn’t, you know, rub off too well on guys.

“He’s kind of like a bull in a china shop, kind of out of control sometimes. And then you do just see him flop sometimes like how can a guy that big and strong flop that much?

“I can see how that gets under people’s skin and be frustrating to play against.”

So what is the indictment exactly? Griffin is too physical? Or he flops?

It used to be one or the other but, come right down to it, these teams don’t like each other.

If neither team resembles Detroit’s Bad Boys in the least, sparks fly when they meet — going back to last Oct. 31 in Staples when Griffin flared his foot and stepped on Jackson’s on the sideline, who told him he didn’t like it.

On Christmas in Oakland, Griffin was mauled by Bogut, then thrown out of the game, and went off on the Warriors, accusing them of “cowardly basketball.”

The NBA announced that Griffin hadn’t done anything to warrant ejection. Apparently that didn’t make the Warriors feel any better about him.

Hey, whatever works. Obviously instructed to take charge, officials Ron Garretson, Mike Callahan and Sean Wright started off calling fouls any time a Clipper came close to a Warrior.

Griffin had two in the first 3:15, putting him on the bench for the rest of the first quarter. Returning in the second quarter, Griffin lasted 39 seconds before getting called for charging on a fast-break swoop to the basket, which Marreese Speights drew with an impressive, er, flop.

Yes, it’s true, Warriors do it, too.

Griffin wound up scoring 16 points in 19 minutes, fouling out with :48 left trying to knock the ball out of David Lee’s hands (yes, he did that one) after missing a close-in shot with the game tied, 105-105.

“All that hype absolutely had an impact on how the game was called,” said Clipper Coach Doc Rivers. “A lot of them were touch fouls.”

Ka-ching! That will be [amount to be named later], Mr. Rivers.

The surprise is that the sputtering Clippers got as close after trailing by 11 with 10:56 left. They dialed up the effort, the Warriors relaxed, and Chris Paul scored 10 of his game-high 28 points the rest of the way.

With :24 left, the Clippers’ wispy Darren Collison was caught trying to box out the Warriors’ burly Draymond Green by any means necessary on an offensive rebound. Green’s two free throws put the Warriors ahead to stay.

“We made mistakes,” Griffin said in one of his studiously-proper-between-clenched-teeth reactions. “Some of us, myself included, maybe wanted it too much and came in with an expectation. We just need to relax.”

No, the NBA hasn’t had a budding superstar like this. The young Michael Jordan dunked on everyone but no one held it against him. Of course, no one has ever gone over, through and posterized people like Griffin, a bull in the china shop of opponents’ feelings, indeed.

And this was just Game 1. Wait until the Clippers and Warriors actually get upset at each other.

Hall of Fame writer Mark Heisler is a founding member and regular contributor to SheridanHoops, the Orange County Register and Forbes.com.  Follow him on Twitter.

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