Clippers Cold Early, Finish Strong

51-31 2nd Place Pacific Division

Eliminated in First Round by San Antonio 3-1

This was the year the Los Angeles Clippers had been preparing for the last 2 UBA seasons. The Clippers sacrificed winning to build a team that will win for years to come. Prior to the 95-96 season they dealt Scottie Pippen and Nick Van Exel for 2 Time All Star Point Guard and co-captain Jason Kidd. They added another All Star in Shareef Abdur-Rahim as the top pick in the 1996 UBA draft. This season the Clippers started out of the gate slowly compiling a record of 12-18, that was good for last place in the Pacific Division. Then something happened. They opened the 1998 portion of the season winning 5 of the first 6 games, then fell on hard times on the road losing 4 straight. From there the Clippers ran off 5 straight wins to move into 6th place. Kidd realed in 3 triple doubles during that run. Kidd captured the All Star Game MVP honors by recording a triple double and leading the Western Conference to a victory. The Clippers finished with just 1 loss in February and had moved into 3rd place in the Pacific. The Clippers remained hot, they moved into 2nd place in Pacific at the beginning of April and gave strong reason to that by winning 13 straight games at the end. Despite an early exit from the playoffs, the Clippers have given notice to the rest of the league that they are here to stay. The 51 wins represents a 27 game turnaround from last season.

                                       LA Clippers
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                 G  MIN  FG%   FT%   3P%   REB   A    PF  BLK   TO  STL   PTS
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Shareef Abdur-R 82  42  46.4  77.6  36.5   7.6  2.9  2.7  1.0  3.1  1.1  25.0
Isaiah Rider    66  37  40.4  79.2  30.8   4.3  2.5  2.4  0.2  2.0  0.7  17.7
Antonio McDyess 82  34  50.7  73.5   0.0   7.8  1.5  4.0  1.6  1.6  1.5  17.2
Lamond Murray   82  26  48.5  77.8  41.7   4.7  1.5  2.3  0.5  1.5  1.1  13.3
Jason Kidd      82  41  41.1  80.4  29.0   6.4 10.5  1.6  0.3  3.4  2.1  11.3
Erick Dampier   82  31  37.7  66.8   0.0   7.9  1.4  3.4  1.3  1.6  0.3  10.5
Ed Gray         34  12  35.3  84.6  25.0   1.3  0.8  1.6  0.2  0.7  0.7   5.4
Lucious Harris  55   9  39.9  59.5  19.4   1.1  0.7  1.1  0.1  0.3  0.7   3.1
Charles O'Banno 22  10  37.8  71.4   0.0   1.3  0.7  0.6  0.0  0.4  0.4   2.8
Sharone Wright   8   6  50.0 100.0   0.0   1.6  1.1  0.6  0.0  0.4  0.0   2.5
Pooh Richardson 61   9  41.4  61.9  20.0   0.6  1.9  0.6  0.0  0.4  0.5   2.4
Sean Rooks      42   5  47.8  54.8   0.0   1.6  0.3  1.0  0.3  0.2  0.1   1.9
Michael Cage    73  12  58.3  52.4   0.0   2.9  0.4  1.0  0.5  0.3  0.4   1.5
Felton Spencer  43   6  50.0  42.1   0.0   1.6  0.2  1.3  0.2  0.6  0.2   1.3
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Totals          82  48  44.3  74.2  30.9  44.4 23.0 20.2  5.8 14.6  8.3 101.7
Opposition      82  48  44.1  71.4  33.9  40.0 22.9 24.1  5.0 14.6  7.7  96.5
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