Energized Defense Fuels Clippers

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">EL SEGUNDO ? The Clippers' victory Wednesday over the Boston Celtics wasn't enough to move them out of last place in the division, but it might have been a good push.

Energy, strong defense and, in the case of forward Tim Thomas, aggressiveness were keys that resulted in the Clippers first victory at home since Dec. 5.

Though a lot of things were done right in the Clippers latest triumph, Coach Mike Dunleavy isn't ready to say his team has turned the corner. What was scheduled to be an abbreviated practice session Thursday turned into a two-hour marathon, a sign there still is work to be done.

"There are things we need work on, and that's the reason we came in," Dunleavy said. "We had plays we needed to go over, situations we needed to go over and we need to keep building and working hard."

One thing that stuck in Dunleavy's mind was the energy the Clippers had in the early part of Wednesday's game. The Clippers channeled that into their defense, where they were getting their hands on a lot of the Celtics' passes and shots. The Clippers have won two of their past three games but are 3-7 in their past 10 outings. Dunleavy would like to see more consistency, but that will only come with healthy players.

"A lot of it has been injuries for us," Dunleavy said. "Coming out of camp, I was never satisfied (with) where we were. I didn't feel good about it, even though we were winning. We've had spurts that were positive, but it hasn't been consistent enough for us. Because the guys, especially Sam (Cassell) and Tim, have been in and out of the lineup a bunch. It's just hard to do when you're playing a lot of really good teams, and we've been playing a lot of really good teams." </div>

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