CLIPPERS NOTEBOOK: DUNLEAVY ANSWERS CRITICISM.

Byline: JOE STEVENS  Staff Writer

PHOENIX -- All the way up until Game 7 of the Clippers' Western Conference semifinal, questions about experience -- or lack thereof -- were common for the Los Angeles team.

This season, the Clippers won their first playoff series in 30 years, and this was just the second winning season since the team moved to Los Angeles in 1984. Questions about experience became a part of the interviewing routine for coach Mike Dunleavy and his team.Before Monday's game, the coach said he was tired of hearing about it.

Dunleavy said that experience should not be considered a factor in Game 7 and that bringing it up practically assumes the Clippers make mental mistakes because of it.

``Everybody tries to put more upon us right now because our team hasn't been in the playoffs,'' Dunleavy said. < ``They're trying to take away from our accomplishments, like we're going to be afraid or make those kind of mistakes. Our guys do not believe in that. We're not buying into that mind-set. We're buying into the fact that we're prepared and we're confident.''

The Clippers haven't just found themselves in Game 7 of the conference semifinals. The Clippers have established a defensive-first style of play that has improved throughout the season and playoffs.

``Your work ethic and all the time you put in get you to this point,'' Dunleavy said. ``Our guys aren't going to be confident because I tell them to be confident. They have to be confident because they put the work in.''

--Mr. Seven: Sam Cassell played in his seventh Game 7 Monday and did not give a definitive response for the importance of experience in win-or- go-home games. He has thrived in Game 7s, going 5-1 in them before Monday.

``It varies, just being poised and being calm,' Cassell said about the role of experience. ``There is not going to be a situation in the game of basketball that I haven't seen before for me, personally. I've been with the odds, and I've been against the odds. I've been down 3-1 coming into a hostile environment and winning. I've been up 3-1 at home, calm and cool, and lost.''

As for trying to bestow his experience onto his teammates, Cassell did make a brief speech.

``I just told my guys `Hey, man, this is an opportunity for us, a moment that you must cherish and a moment that you got to take advantage of,''' he said.