CLIPPERS HAVE AN EASY TIME MUCH-RUMORED DEAL UP IN AIR CLIPPERS 100, BOSTON 77.

Byline: RICH HAMMOND Staff Writer

Ron Artest remained in Sacramento, Corey Maggette stayed a Clipper and as the NBA world waited for the other shoe to drop on that trade, the Clippers went about the business of trying to turn around their season.

Like a room full of expectant fathers, the Clippers are awaiting word as to when, or if, the Artest circus will come to town. Reports indicate that a deal to send Maggette to Sacramento in exchange for Artest, a volatile but talented forward, is imminent, but another day passed with no official announcement.

Instead, the Clippers were left to face the Boston Celtics in a matchup of teams desperate for some positive momentum. The Celtics, losers of three consecutive games, seemed to provide the perfect foil for the Clippers, who held a 87-64 lead in the fourth quarter Wednesday night at Staples Center.

The Clippers, who came in having lost seven of eight, jumped on a shorthanded Celtics squad and took a 16-point lead after less than eight minutes, behind some sharpshooting from Tim Thomas and Elton Brand.

Boston used the slashing of guards Tony Allen and Sebastian Telfair to get back in the game, and trailed by one late in the first, but the Clippers maintained a double-digit lead for much of the rest of the game.

Both teams played with missing parts. The Clippers were without Sam Cassell but the Celtics, without leading scorer Paul Pierce, were in much worse shape, and it showed as the Clippers pulled away.

The Celtics hung tough until the Clippers closed the third quarter with an 18-6 run and opened a 21-point lead. Through three quarters, Thomas had 23 points and Brand had 21 points and eight rebounds.

Four Celtics had scored in double figures, but none had more than Telfair's 13 points.

Cassell, the Clippers' second-leading scorer, missed a second consecutive game as he deals with plantar fasciitis, a painful and often long-term ailment that causes pain on the bottom of the foot.

So much of the Clippers' success last season was based on the outside-inside game of Cassell and Elton Brand, a tandem that hasn't been in sync very much this year, mostly due to Cassell's injuries.

Cassell dealt with a strained calf throughout training camp and, just as he seemed to be rounding into form, hurt his foot, which has left the Clippers in a tough spot, particularly on the offensive end.

``He hasn't been (normal) since training camp,'' coach Mike Dunleavy said of Cassell.

``From the first day in Russia, he was down. There was a stretch at the beginning of the season when we had him back, but maybe it was too soon. He hasn't been able to get the kind of conditioning and timing he needs.''

In Cassell's absence, 21-year-old Shaun Livingston has handled point- guard duties and has done a solid job for the most part, but the Clippers' backcourt faced a challenge Wednesday with the Boston guards.

4The Celtics, also hobbled because of injuries to perennial All-Star

Pierce (foot stress fracture) as well as Delonte West and Theo Ratliff, have responded by turning into a more up-tempo offensive team.

Nothing worked for Boston early, as the Clippers jumped out to a 25-9 lead.

The Clippers had a good inside-outside mix with Thomas on the perimeter and Brand in the post, and Chris Kaman had one of his better quarters of the season, with four blocked shots and five rebounds, but Boston didn't fade.

Despite a poor half from star forward Al Jefferson, who missed 9 of 12 shots, the Celtics rallied to within 27-26 but then faded in the second quarter, when they went 5 of 17 from the field.

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Photo:

The Clippers' Corey Maggette shoots off-balance against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer