Now Playing: Clippers That Matter

Elton Brand dunks in Game 6, "the most important game in the history of the franchise," according to former Clippers player and broadcaster Bill Walton. (By Mark J. Terrill -- Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES Never been to a Clippers game before this. Twenty-six years of going to basketball games, but never had reason to go and see the Clippers at home until Thursday night, Game 6 of the second round of the playoffs. Been to basketball games in Seoul, in Barcelona, in Athens, been to see every other team in the NBA. But never, until now, the Clippers. What would have been the point, other than to chronicle failure or make jokes?

"When I first came here in October," Clippers point guard Sam Cassell said before Game 6, "I'd tell people, 'We're going to have a really good team this year.' And they'd look at me like I was crazy and say, 'But Sam, it's the Clippers.' I'd tell them, 'I've got nothing to do with the ghosts of the past. It says Cassell on the back of my jersey.' And they'd say, 'But Sam, it's still the Clippers.' This is a helluva town to win in. But in Hollywood, they don't want nothing to do with losing. If you're losing, they don't want your money at the Shell station for gas. They'll tell you: 'No thanks. Why don't you go over the Amoco and buy your gas?' "

The Clippers bandwagon now has plenty of fuel, with the team in the midst of the most successful run the franchise has had in Southern California. When Bill Walton, who played for the Clippers for six years and broadcast the games for 13, said, "This is the most important game in the history of the franchise," he knew exactly what he was talking about.

And the Clippers won it, convincingly if not easily. Elton Brand's 30 points and Corey Maggette's 25 led the way, and as a result the Clippers will be involved in another biggest-game-in-franchise-history Monday night in Phoenix in Game 7. It was as happy a crowd as has ever left a Clippers game, whether we're talking Staples Center, the L.A. Sports Arena, the Pond down in Anaheim or the old San Diego Sports Arena.

There's almost no Hollywood feel to the games except for the presence of Billy Crystal; Sacramento Kings games are more glamorous. The locals, dressed in their red shirts and jerseys, were happy nonetheless to watch their Clips shoot 61.5 percent for the game and outrebound the Suns by 20.

Coach Mike Dunleavy maintained afterward his team is built for the playoffs, and there was no arguing with him Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Walton left Coach John Wooden's house in Encino after breakfast and jumped on the 405 headed south to Marina del Rey, where he saw something he'd never seen in all his years in Southern California. "There were cars," Walton said, "with Clippers Nation flags."

That's what happens when you win 47 games and beat division winner Denver in the first round of the playoffs.

But before this, the Clippers were basically the NBA's version of the Cubs. Losing was a way of life. It was that way since 1978, when the franchise moved from Buffalo to San Diego. The Clippers had 12 straight losing seasons between 1980 and 1991, and 23 losing seasons in 26 seasons. In 1987 they were 12-70. They were both bad and unlucky. They got Walton in the prime of his life, at age 25, but a series of serious foot injuries prevented him from playing for the Clippers the way he had played for the Portland Trail Blazers, which is to say sublimely.

It's hard to believe that anybody could be more relieved over the Clippers' success than Walton, who called last night's game for ESPN. Some folks date the Clippers' woes to Walton's joining the franchise as a free agent in 1979. That includes Walton, who said in a conversation before Game 6: "I'm responsible for the failure of the franchise in San Diego and for the struggles in Los Angeles. I couldn't get it done. I didn't get it done.

"It's a stain on my soul. We're not into excuses in this business; we're into results. I don't know what it's going to take get rid of the curse of Bill Walton."

Walton wasn't attempting to overstate the point, like he intentionally embellished Clippers broadcasts over the years. There are some things that make you wonder if something or somebody cursed this team. Twice in franchise history, the Clippers have had the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft. Once, the Clippers selected Danny Manning, one year after David Robinson was in the draft pool. The next time the Clippers selected Michael Olowokandi, one year after Tim Duncan was in the draft pool. In the famous draft of 1984, the class that yielded Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, the Clippers wound up with Lancaster Gordon.

The turnaround is why Walton and so many others around the Clippers over the years are as happy for broadcaster Ralph Lawler as any player. Nobody has put up with more futility than Lawler, "the picture of professionalism and class," Walton said. "He's always upbeat, always ready to go and never complains or whines. And we're talking about 27 years of Clipper basketball."

When you come from downtown Los Angeles you can't help but notice you're turning the car onto Chick Hearn Drive. Media folks dine and work in the Chick Hearn press room. Nothing visible is named for Lawler, though Coach Dunleavy, all-star Brand and playmaker-basketball sage Cassell are desperately trying to change that.

Cassell said he wasn't worried about becoming a Clipper after having a serious conversation with Dunleavy, who pretty much everybody credits with changing the losing culture of the place by demanding the Clippers do better in every facet of the franchise. When Cassell looked around in training camp and saw Brand inside, Cuttino Mobley and Maggette on the wing and Chris Kamen at center, he said he knew the team would win this season. "Chris Kamen," Cassell said, "is one of the top five centers in the league. These were guys I knew I could work with."

Elgin Baylor, the elegant and once high-flying Laker turned Clippers VP, had to suffer the criticism of so much bad stuff happening on his watch but appeared humbled Thursday when he was presented with a cake in the press room for being named NBA executive of the year.

Somewhat unbelievably, the Clippers appear to be set for a while. They're not just better than the Lakers, which for some in Clippers Nation might be good enough, but they're better than most teams in the NBA, good enough to contend in the Western Conference for the foreseeable future, perhaps good enough, whether he knows it or not, to once and for all get rid of the Curse of Bill Walton.