ANOTHER STERLING MOMENT.

Byline: RICH HAMMOND 

Well, Clippers, it was fun while it lasted.

We'll always remember the good times. The exciting playoff run last spring and the ... OK, well, that's pretty much it, so the Clippers better be prepared to show those highlights for the next decade.

To be fair, the NBA coroner hasn't arrived. In fact, the Clippers would be in the playoffs if the season ended today and yes, if the Clippers make the postseason they could go on some miraculous run.

But they won't, at this rate, because this team is closer to a total collapse than it is a turnaround.

That's not Chris Kaman's fault, even though he has been a $52 million stiff, and it's not Shaun Livingston's fault for being too young or Elton Brand's fault for perhaps being tired after a long summer of basketball.

The blame for the Clippers' struggles, especially of late, falls at the top, with owner Donald Sterling, with general manager Elgin Baylor and with coach Mike Dunleavy, for their inability to get their act together.

This team is falling apart because it can't figure out what to do with its sixth man, Corey Maggette.

Think about it. The Clippers have Brand, one of the best post men in the game, and Sam Cassell, perhaps the smartest point guard, leading a deep and talented lineup, and they're imploding over their sixth man?

Dunleavy and Maggette can't coexist. We know this. They tried to put on happy faces for a while, but it came to a head again last week when Maggette publicly lashed out about his lack of playing time.

This, remember, came less than a month after Sterling, Baylor, Dunleavy and Maggette came together in the Staples Center tunnel, sang "Kumbaya" and decided they would try to be a happy family.

Well, that lasted a while, didn't it?

It's now nothing short of a clown show, and the men wearing the suits should have known better.

Who's running this team, anyway? Dunleavy wants to trade Maggette, Sterling wants to keep him and Baylor, well, who knows? He seems to be in the middle, trying to placate both sides.

The lion's share of the blame here falls on Sterling. His involvement in the whole thing has turned the Maggette affair from a sticky situation to a tar pit. Because who isn't going to listen to the boss?

Sterling is making himself look like L.A.'s version of George Steinbrenner, minus the mean streak.

Donald, if Maggette is more important to you than Dunleavy, fire Dunleavy. If Baylor isn't doing the job you want, fire Baylor. But trying to play all sides and have this magically work out, it just isn't going to happen. You'd think that a man with Sterling's business background would understand management.

With the trade deadline approaching, Sterling needs to ask himself one question: What's more important, his admiration for Maggette or his team's chances of making the playoffs?

Dunleavy's feelings aren't going to change. He doesn't like Maggette's defense or attitude, and the road-trip outburst just sealed the deal. Now it's time to take the handcuffs off Baylor, let him do his job and make a respectable trade, one that will allow the team to focus on something other than internal strife.

This could have been the Clippers' season. Instead, it's a mess, but maybe it's not too late to fix.

Don't do it: As the Feb.22 trade deadline approaches, the hottest non-Maggette trade stories center around Memphis' Pau Gasol, with Chicago as a possible trade partner for the Grizzlies.

Sounds good for the Bulls, except the latest rumors have the Grizzlies seeking two players from a group that includes Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni, Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich. Thanks, but no thanks.

Nocioni is 27 and the other three are 25 or younger. That quartet forms the core of a group that has kept the Bulls competitive in the ultra-tough Central Division and should keep them strong for years to come.

A versatile 7-foot center such as Gasol is nothing to sneeze at, but the Bulls can't afford to lose two of their top four scorers.

One player and a draft pick? Sure, and if that happens, watch out for the Bulls.

Numbers game: Is there something about The Palace of Auburn Hills that makes NBA players lose their minds? First the Indiana Pacers go charging into the seats and now, the Brian Cook incident.

Cook, bothered by a lack of recent playing time, dropped his warmups into Lakers coach Phil Jackson's lap as he left the bench and, well, there's really no good way to spin this one in Cook's favor.

But does Cook have a point? Let's look at some numbers provided by the stat gurus at 82games.com.

Using a simple formula known as "net points," which measures a team's point totals when a particular player is on or off the court, Cook is the Lakers' fifth-most efficient player with a plus-17 rating.

That puts Cook behind Kobe Bryant (plus-175), Kwame Brown (plus-93), Lamar Odom (plus-63) and Maurice Evans (plus-51) and far ahead of Smush Parker (minus-35) and Andrew Bynum (minus-75).

And Vladimir Radmanovic, who competes with Cook for playing time?

He's a minus-275. Ouch.

Baby Shaq? The NBA slam-dunk contest, which stopped being interesting after Spud Webb threw down, could get an infusion of life if Orlando's Dwight Howard pulls off what he's thinking.

Howard told the Orlando Sentinel last week he's considering a dunk so thunderous that it would bring down the basket support, something Shaquille O'Neal made famous a few years back.

"That's what I have people telling me: tear it down!" Howard said. "But you know how hard that is to do? I know Shaq has done it. I don't know. It's never been done (in the slam-dunk contest)."

Take that: Dwyane Wade is known as being perhaps the most mild-mannered of all the NBA stars, but Wade couldn't resist taking a jab at Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, who, in the estimation of Miami followers, hasn't given enough credit to the Heat for its NBA Finals win over the Mavericks.

"At the end of the day," Wade told the Miami Herald, "you're remembered for what you did at the end. ... Dirk says they gave us the championship last year, but he's the reason they lost the championship, because he wasn't the leader that he's supposed to be in the closing moments."

For those interested in calendar-circling, Dallas hosts Miami on Feb. 22.

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 5 boxes

Photo:

(1) Mike Dunleavy would like to point Corey Maggette to the Staples Center exit, but Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling won't allow it.

Noah Graham/Getty Images

(2) LaMarcus Aldridge is likely to become Portland's starting center in the near future.

Sam Forencich/Getty Images

(3) no caption (Doc Rivers)

Box:

(1) DAILY NEWS CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER

- Ross Siler

(2) THEY SAID IT

(3) MILE-HIGH WOES

(4) THE DOC IS (STILL) IN

(5) THIS WEEK'S BEST BET