<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">LOS ANGELES ? Point guard Sam Cassell brought more than just experience, savvy and clutch play when he was acquired by the Clippers last summer. He brought something the team sorely lacked, an essential component necessary to take them from hoping, to believing. He brought a swagger, that knowing belief that change would be made, that the Clippers were a playoff team. Not only have the Clippers achieved that, they are one victory from reaching the Western Conference semifinals, a step they can take tonight with a victory at Staples Center over the Denver Nuggets. The Clippers lead the best-of-7 first-round series, 3-1. But Cassell knows the terrain well. It will be a desperate Nuggets team seeking any motivation it can latch on to, he said. "Me knowing (Nuggets coach) George (Karl), he's going to find something," Cassell said. "The hardest game of a series is the close-out game. They're willing to do anything to stay alive. We have to realize that." As an adversary of the Clippers for 12 previous seasons, Cassell had an accurate read on the perennial losing organization, to which the Minnesota Timberwolves traded him to for guard Marko Jaric. Confidence they could win? In Cassell's opinion, the Clippers did not have it. "I don't think that they went into every game knowing that they could win," he said. "Before I got here, the Clippers were a team that would play you good for 40 minutes. Unfortunately, the game is 48 minutes. "I don't think that they went into every game knowing that they could win. But this year, we've won some games we were supposed to lose." With Cassell, 36, the Clippers have one of the league's best late-game players, a man who bailed them out of numerous dire fourth-quarter situations this season. With that comes a swagger that has made Cassell the villain in more arenas than he can name. "That's what it's all about. There's nothing like winning on another team's court and sending everybody home sad," Cassell said. That attitude that Cassell brought with him has rubbed off on his teammates. His clever veteran tricks, which used to annoy them when he played for the opposition, now are embraced. A trademark Cassell move is to change the speed and direction of his dribble up court, which invariably results in a defender bumping into him. Cassell crumbles to the floor as though a four-wheeler has hit him. "He did it to me when he was in Minnesota," Clippers forward Elton Brand said. "I'm running behind him and all of a sudden he stops and I can't help but run right over him. We were up by four, but Sam makes both free throws and then the next time down, he hits a three, and they end up winning the game. I felt bad, but I don't feel bad anymore when he does it.''</div> Source
