Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 21, 1992 TAG: 9202210223
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
BIG TURNAROUND IN LA LA LAND
The sneaker is on the other foot in Los Angeles.For a decade, the Lakers were the NBA team in town. The Clippers seemed an afterthought, a team that has gone 15 seasons without making the playoffs and 12 without a winning record.
Some of their worst lumps have come courtesy of the Lakers, who won five league championships over that span.
But Wednesday night, the NBA's once-perennial doormats took a large measure of revenge for all the abuse from their crosstown rivals over the years, a 31-point victory at the Sports Arena - their most lopsided ever against the Lakers.
"I don't think there was any point when we said we wanted to pile it on the Lakers," center Olden Polynice said. "We just wanted to continue to play well and increase the lead."
The loss dropped the Lakers a game under .500 on the road and put the Clippers two games behind the defending Western Conference champions for fourth place in the Pacific Division.
The teams, 2-2 in the season series, will meet one more time, in the regular-season finale on April 19 at the Forum. The Lakers have lost one season series to this franchise in 22 years - when the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves took three of four.
Wednesday's 125-94 victory extended the Clippers' winning streak to five - all since Larry Brown became their coach Feb. 5 - and stretched the Lakers' losing skid to five games.
"It's very special because, for so long, we've been on the downside of this rivalry," Clippers forward Loy Vaught said. "It feels great."
At the root of the sudden reversal are Brown's hiring and the retirement of Magic Johnson after the former Lakers' star tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS.
Before those two watershed events, the Lakers won 34 of 39 meetings before this season, including all 19 games at the Forum.
The Clippers ended their futility at the Forum on Nov. 5, beating the Lakers two nights before Johnson announced his retirement.
The three-time Most Valuable Player and his wife, Cookie, watched from the stands Wednesday night as the Clippers humiliated a group of players who have rapidly become a shell of the Lakers' once successful dynasty.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL