MEDIOCRITY IS NO LONGER AN OPTION: IT'S A NEW DAY IN CLIPPERLAND.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE

Elton Brand has been around the Clippers long enough to know the talk always circles back to some level of gloom and doom. Years and years of futility will do that to a franchise, no matter how well it plays for any extended period of time.

So Brand wasn't the least bit surprised last month when talk of the Clippers' impending demise started making its way around town. The Clips had fallen into a rut after one of the best starts in franchise history, and some fans and media types were using the slump as their cue to jump off the bandwagon.

``People were saying, 'Yep, here we go again. It's the same old Clippers going down the tubes,' '' Brand said.

The talk grew loudest as the Clippers set out on a 12-day, six-game road trip two weeks ago. Last year, a similar trip buried them, and more than a few people predicted the same fate this time around.

``They have to understand things are a little different around here,'' Brand said.

If they didn't, they do now. The Clippers took control of their season by going 4-2 on the long swing through the East to creep two games behind first place Phoenix in the Pacific Division. They returned home Friday with a win over Memphis to rise 12 games over .500 for the first time this late in a season since 1974-75.

The Clippers now have 30 wins on the season. Last season, they didn't win their 30th game until March 15th.

``The road trip was extremely important for us,'' said Brand, who tied a career high with 44 points against Memphis. ``It was a problem for us last year. This time was quite a bit different. It's helped our confidence a lot.''

Brand's eyes circled the Clippers locker room as he said this, searching out the two main reasons this team bears little resemblance to all those others that bowed out of playoff contention long before the All-Star break.

For one of the few times all year, Brand couldn't find Cuttino Mobley or Sam Cassell. Both were wandering around Staples Center before the Clippers played the Grizzlies, but even in absence their veteran experience was undeniable.

It was Mobley and Cassell - L.A.'s two biggest offseason acquisitions - who coaxed the Clippers back on track after the difficult December, sometimes with words of wisdom, other times with sharp reminders that business as usual wasn't acceptable anymore.

Not as long as they were around.

``This isn't the same team as all those others,'' Brand said. ``And it's because of guys like (Mobley) and Sam. They never get too high or too low. They just kept saying, 'Hey, it's time to get it together again.' Having guys like that helped out a lot.''

Brand smiled and shook his head, thankful to be talking about something meaningful this late in the season rather than grasping for reasons to still care. Brand has been in the league for six years, and each of them ended out of the playoffs.

``Trust me, there's no adjustment to winning,'' he said, laughing. ``It's (the adjustment to losing) that's hard.''

He came into this season with the modest goal of just making the playoffs, an objective set forth by Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy after last year's 37-45 finish.

But after the successful road trip brought the Clippers so close to Phoenix, those goals have changed dramatically heading into the second half of the season.

A division championship - and a guaranteed top-three playoff seeding - isn't out of reach.

``That's what I keep telling these guys,'' Dunleavy said.

Brand agrees, especially if second-leading scorer Corey Maggette returns sometime after the all-star break. Maggette has been sidelined for 35 games with a left foot injury.

``Now it's about playoff seeding and trying to win the Pacific Division,'' Brand said. ``We've got (34) games left and the goal isn't just to get there, but to get homecourt advantage and be the best team that we can be.''

--Still getting overlooked: It's not like Gilbert Arenas isn't used to people selling him short. Despite posting some of the most remarkable stat lines in Los Angeles high school basketball history at Grant High of Van Nuys, Arenas was awarded a scholarship to Arizona only after Wildcats' coach Lute Olson was talked into it by an assistant coach.

And after leading Arizona to the NCAA championship game as a sophomore - Arenas and the Wildcats fell to Elton Brand's Duke team in the final - he was passed over in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft. He was finally picked up in the second round by Golden State, which didn't play him major minutes until the final few weeks of his rookie season.

Arenas eventually got the last laugh, playing so well in his second season that Washington rewarded him with a $67 million free-agent contract.

Arenas admits he's used the slights over the years as motivation, but even he was rolling his eyes saying ``here we go again'' when he was passed over as an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve despite being the fourth-best scorer in the league at 28 points per game.

It took commissioner David Stern to finally right the wrong, awarding Arenas a spot on the team as a replacement for injured Indiana forward Jermaine O'Neal.

``It's an honor. Thank you, David Stern,'' Arenas said before Friday night's game against Cleveland.

Of course, Arenas will now use the slight just like he has all the others: As motivation.

``I've still got things to prove,'' Arenas said. ``I'm going to always have something to prove in this league. I'm one of those players who's just got to keep fighting, and I'm not going to give up.''

--My bad: Miami is now 1-11 against division leaders after a horrid 112-76 loss to Dallas on Thursday.

Much like he did in a loss against Phoenix two weeks ago, Heat coach Pat Riley took most of the blame for the loss.

``That was painful, absolutely painful,'' Riley said. ``I coached an absolutely awful game, terrible game plan. The pick-and-roll schemes, everything.

``I'm not going to take full responsibility for it, but it was a total breakdown, an absolute breakdown.''

Riley told Miami reporters that the Heat is making a mistake by assuming it can kick things in gear in the playoffs.

``Everybody is making that assumption, and I believe our players have voiced that publicly themselves,'' Riley said. ``There are no guarantees here. Anybody in that locker room, after tonight, or after other teams have handed us our head, were to think that would be in absolute (denial).''

Vincent Bonsignore, [phone]

vincent.bonsignore(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, 3 boxes

Photo:

no caption (Mike Dunleavy)

Box:

(1) FIVE QUESTIONS WITH MIKE DUNLEAVY

(2) OFF THE GLASS

- Vincent Bonsignore

(3) Daily News/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS