Los Angeles Clippers Basketball Team

You would at a Laker game, but you won't find valet parking for Clipper games at Staples Center. Nor will you find Denzel, Dustin or Dyan. And you won't find Jack. What you will find are "regular people, as opposed to corporations," said filmmaker Penny Marshall, the only celebrity who regularly attends both Laker and Clipper games. "I like the Clipper audience better."

The Clippers wanted Hollywood, they've got Hollywood. Seven games into the season, they've got a flamboyant actor staring down a meticulous director in what eventually could become a battle for the big screen. Whose movie is it, anyway? Does it belong to Baron Davis, the leading man signed to a $65-million contract this summer in the Clippers' attempt to grab some leftover Lakers glitter? Or does it belong to Mike Dunleavy, the ruler-tapping boss who believes all that glitters is cold?

The last line of questioning may have been the toughest for Elgin Baylor during his news conference Thursday morning at his attorney's office in Beverly Hills. What have you been doing since October, Elgin? Have you been watching Clippers games? Do you cheer for the team? Is it tough to cheer for the team? Baylor, 74, the NBA Hall of Famer and former Clippers executive, didn't answer and appeared more emotional than at any time during the session.

Clippers' rookie power forward Blake Griffin, the No. 1 overall draft choice in June, has a stress fracture of the left patella, or kneecap, and could miss as much as six weeks of the season. The news, released late Monday, came on the eve of the team's NBA opener, and the blow was a significant one, meaning the Clippers will be starting the season minus the fresh new face of the franchise and might be without him in the lineup for the first 20 games of the season. Tests revealed the fracture and a second opinion later in the day backed up the results and conclusion of the first doctor.

Only the Clippers, it seems, could be involved in a fight in which a fair outcome is unattainable, and a rooting interest is impossible. It's Elgin Baylor suing Donald Sterling, a fallen general manager charging the falling owner of being racist and cheap, allegations that apparently occurred to Baylor only after working there for more than two decades. One cannot pick sides, only emotions. Sadness comes to mind. How do you back an owner who is now fighting two lawsuits accusing him of racism?

Where did it all go wrong? Of course, a qualifier is needed when it concerns the Clippers and their unique brand of bad luck, misfortune and self-inflicted damage rolled into one unsightly package. Where did it all go wrong this time?

The idea of hiring John Lucas had been percolating in Mike Dunleavy's mind for quite a while, and finally it came time to put it out there. "It was one of those ideas," said Dunleavy, the Clippers' general manager and coach. "Hey, unless I ask him, I won't know." Dunleavy said Thursday morning that Lucas, a well-respected former NBA player and coach, was at the team's offices in Playa Vista and would be joining the Clippers coaching staff. Lucas has a long-standing relationship with Dunleavy, and many of the current Clippers have worked out with Lucas at his Houston base.

Thirty minutes before the Clippers introduce their No. 1 overall draft pick, Blake Griffin is in workout garb. He trots to center court at the Clippers' training facility in Playa Vista, where second-year guard Mike Taylor is putting up shots, sweating like he's cutting grass in a Texas summer. Griffin leans his 6-foot-10 frame down to the 6-2 Taylor, smiles, and offers a towel. "Whatever you need, sir," Griffin says.

Finally completing a deal agreed to more than two months ago, Coach Mike Dunleavy signed a four-year contract extension Wednesday that elevated him among the highest-paid coaches in the NBA. The Clippers did not reveal financial terms during a news conference before a 105-86 loss to the Utah Jazz at Staples Center, but multiple team sources said Dunleavy would be paid about $5.6 million a season for the length of the deal. He has a salary of $2.

One absent Marcus Camby meant two eye-opening words for the Lakers' Andrew Bynum. Career night. Or if you want to continue the political theme: Running unopposed. Bynum had 42 points and 15 rebounds in the Lakers' 108-97 victory over the Clippers on Wednesday night at Staples Center in front of a sellout crowd. Bynum's previous high was 28 points, and he eclipsed that mark early in the third quarter, pounding home a one-handed dunk. Speaking of pounding . . .

Kim Hughes said he hoped the Clippers would play hard for him Saturday night in his first game as interim coach. And for the most part, most of them did. Now if he could only get them to play well. Because while the Clippers were looking for a new beginning under their new coach, what they got instead was a stale replay of the kind of inconsistent performances they got far too often under old coach Mike Dunleavy. And the result was familiar too -- a 98-81 defeat by San Antonio at Staples Center, the Clippers' 15th straight loss to the Spurs and their sixth in seven games overall.

Whether the blame lies with the coach or his players, it became clear on the Clippers' recent trip that Mike Dunleavy's message was no longer getting through to his team. And that, as much as anything else, led to Dunleavy's decision to step down as the Clippers' head coach Thursday. He remains the team's general manager. "Maybe they're not hearing me," Dunleavy said Friday. "Maybe another voice could do it." He'll soon find out. For the rest of the season, the voice the Clippers will be hearing belongs to longtime assistant Kim Hughes , a former player, scout and player personnel director in the NBA whose laid-back, soft-spoken personality stands in sharp contrast to Dunleavy's.

Who says you can't win the lottery twice? Mike Dunleavy is a great guy, but the decision Thursday to finally move him off the Clippers' bench could prove as charmed as last spring's draft win. Back then, the Clippers used the NBA lottery prize to make Blake Griffin the No. 1 overall pick. Thanks to Dunleavy's departure, they now have a chance to make the same kind of impact addition with a coach. They have never been in a better position to add the guy who can lead them into June.

They'll never forget Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy, dangled out of a window two years ago by his owner, who lasted until Thursday -- time enough to turn the team's roster around, if not its fortunes -- when he resigned. With one year left on his contract at $5.4 million, Dunleavy will remain as general manager, the other half of the title he has formally held for two seasons. If this is it as a coach, he leaves with one more distinction to add to an NBA Finals appearance (Lakers, 1991)

Baron Davis called it heartbreaking. Eric Gordon said it was not up to par. Al Thornton? "It was a decent trip," the Clippers forward said Wednesday night at Philips Arena after his team concluded a two-week journey with a 103-97 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. "We could have done a lot better, but it was a decent trip." Asked what he meant by "decent," Thornton fell silent for several seconds. "What was our record on this trip, anyway?" he inquired. Informed it was 2-6, Thornton chuckled and said, "I guess not so decent, then.

Chris Kaman wants to sleep in his own bed. His ankle hurts and his team has been on the road for two weeks, suffering meltdowns in single-digit locales such as Minnesota and Cleveland. So what transpired Tuesday night at the United Center made it feel like sweet home Chicago for the 7-footer. The Clippers center notched a double-double in his return from a sprained left ankle and helped his team stifle the Chicago Bulls during a 90-82 victory that ended a losing streak at four games.

It was a New Year's resolution that sounded familiar: Craig Smith wanted to get more active. Only it didn't involve treadmills or weight loss, just being more assertive coming off the bench. January was a time of progress for the Clippers forward, although not for his team, which had a 6-9 record last month. Smith averaged 11.9 points and 4.9 rebounds last month after averaging 3.7 points and 1.6 rebounds in December. He was productive even on nights when the Clippers struggled, scoring 21 points in a blowout loss at Denver and 18 in a dispiriting setback last week against the New Jersey Nets.

The upside of the final stretch of the Clippers' season-long, eight-game trip is that it includes no more last-place teams. On the flip side, up next is Cleveland, the team with the third-best home record in the NBA. Might a game tonight against the Eastern Conference leaders be just what the Clippers need to break out of their confounding habit of struggling against league lightweights? "The evidence is there," forward Rasual Butler said Saturday. "We play totally different against the more elite teams like the Lakers, Boston, Cleveland.

What happens to the Clippers in New Jersey apparently isn't confined to the Northeast. Two days after losing to the worst team in the NBA, the Clippers ventured to the Target Center and stumbled against another franchise already looking forward to the draft lottery. Minnesota moved into double digits for victories thanks to a 111-97 triumph Friday night that left the Clippers in need of a novel approach to reverse their sagging fortunes. A players-only meeting earlier in the day did little to help the team regroup from a 16-point loss to the woeful Nets.

Marcus Camby saw a reporter approach Chris Kaman inside the Target Center on Thursday afternoon and preempted the first question with one of his own. "Chris, did you make it?" Camby yelled to his Clippers teammate seated across the floor. Apprised by Kaman that the center had not been selected as an All-Star reserve, Camby uttered an expletive and told Kaman he had been robbed. Kaman seemed resigned to his fate -- All-Star reserves were announced Thursday -- saying his case for selection by Western Conference coaches was hurt by the Clippers' sub-.