CLIPPERS INCH CLOSER TO PLAYOFF BERTH : CLIPPERS 103, NEW JERSEY 96.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Bill Fitch William Fitch (born May 19 1934 in Davenport, Iowa) is a former NBA coach who has been successful in making teams playoff contenders throughout his coaching career. Before entering the professional ranks he coached college ball at the University of Minnesota, Bowling Green State has the Clippers in position to make the NBA playoffs The NBA Playoffs is a four-round best-of-seven elimination tournament between sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conferences (called Divisions, pre-1970) of the National Basketball Association, ultimately determining the league champion. for the first time since the 1992-93 season. The Clippers won their third straight road game Sunday and reduced their clinching number to three with a 103-96 triumph over the New Jersey Nets, a team Fitch coached into the playoffs in the 1991-92 season. ``Until we hear that fat lady sing, we won't even talk about it,'' Fitch said about the playoffs. ``But to get a win in this building is good. There was a time when I was here that I couldn't get them here.'' Fitch, who has a 925-1,036 record in 24 NBA seasons A list of National Basketball Association seasons since inception of the league: 1946-47 | 1947-48 | 1948-49 | 1949-50 | 1950-51 | 1951-52 | 1952-53 | 1953-54 | 1954-55 | 1955-56 | 1956-57 | 1957-58 | 1958-59 | 1959-60 | 1960-61 | 1961-62 | 1962-63 | 1963-64 | 1964-65 | , did a masterful job of using his personnel to match up with the Nets' three-guard alignment. ``We were trying to balance out the books by taking one of their guards and putting them down on the blocks,'' Fitch said. The strategy paid off as either Loy Vaught Loy Stephen Vaught (born February 27, 1968 in Grand Rapids, Michigan) is a retired American basketball player who spent ten seasons in the NBA, primarily with the Los Angeles Clippers. , Rodney Rogers Rodney Ray Rogers (born June 20, 1971, in Durham, North Carolina) is a retired American basketball player who last played power forward for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. Rogers played college basketball at Wake Forest University from 1990 until 1993. or Charles Outlaw ended up with a mismatch inside, or the Clippers were able to swing the ball to Terry Dehere Lennox Dominique "Terry" Dehere (born September 12 1971 in New York City, New York) is an American Democratic Party politician, restauranteur and former NBA basketball player. Dehere grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, New Jersey and attended St. or Darrick Martin Darrick David Martin (born March 6, 1971 in Denver, Colorado, United States) is an American professional basketball player, currently with the NBA's Toronto Raptors. Martin has became known as a solid veteran who provided quality minutes as a reserve, maintaining a career free on the perimeter for a 3-point shot. Yet it wasn't until the fourth quarter when the Clippers were able to pull away from the Nets, who lost their fourth in a row.New Jersey led 77-73 going into the fourth quarter. But the Clippers outscored them 21-8 and opened a 94-85 lead with 3:39 to play. Dehere opened the fourth quarter with a 3-point shot and Vaught followed with a jumper. After Kendall Gill scored for the Nets, Martin hit a 3-pointer and Outlaw hit a baseline turnaround, making it 83-79 and giving the Clippers the lead for good. The Nets closed within 97-94 on two free throws by Sam Cassell with 1:36 remaining. But the Clippers, who didn't score a field goal in the final 2:30, made seven of 10 free throws down the stretch to wrap up the victory. Oddly, the Clippers, who were outrebounded 54-42, made only 16 of 30 free throws for the game. ``We just got focused and turned up the intensity,'' Vaught said about the Clippers' fourth-quarter rally. ``We were able to make all the plays down the stretch. It's going to be hard to keep us out of the playoffs now.'' ``I told the guys after the game that when you play poorly you don't win and we played poorly,'' Nets coach John Calipari said. ``We're still going to try . . . to be a spoiler spoiler: see airplane. 1. spoiler - A remark which reveals important plot elements from books or movies, thus denying the reader (of the article) the proper suspense when reading the book or watching the movie. 2. . We want to go out and beat some teams we're not supposed to.'' Rogers added 16 points for the Clippers and Martin and Dehere each had 15. Kerry Kittles led the Nets with 23 points. Gill had 18 and and Cassell 17. Notes: The Clippers ended their seven-game road trip with a 3-4 record. . . . The three straight road wins matched the Clippers' season high. . . . Kittles, who had scored only 17 points in the past three games, matched that total in the first half. But he did not score in the fourth quarter. . . . The Nets' Jim Jackson had a season-high 10 assists. Outlaw had a season-high 12 rebounds and five blocked shots for the Clippers. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: The Clippers' Rodney Rogers tries to drive through New Jersey's Jim Jackson, left, and Kendall Gill. Associated Press |
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