Empty the Bench

***UPDATE***

As you know by now, the players listed below were right: they didn’t get in. What caused the Clippers collapse, you ask? The Sports Hernia has a few very good reasons.
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Fans of the Los Angeles Clippers have to love the gung-ho, positive mindset permeating their team as they fight for their playoff lives tonight against the New Orleans Hornets. To squeeze into the Western Conference’s eighth seed, and a date with the Mavericks in the first round, the Clips first need to triumph, at home, then hope that the Warriors lose a road game against the TrailBlazers. A loss and/or a Warriors win will seal their fate and send them to the draft lottery.

Considering that the Warriors are playing the second of a back-to-back series, and that a team with nothing to play for like the Blazers would love to drag another team down with them into the lottery, a win for Golden State is far from a sure thing. And you have to believe that the Clippers will be going balls-out bonkers at home. But as some members of the team optimistically see it, their 2006-07 season is already done like dinner:

“We had an opportunity and we let it slip away,” said Corey Maggette. “Golden State … they did what they had to do. They saw the teams in front of them, they came out to play every night, so you just have to tip your caps to them on that. Yeah, we’re going to play hard [against the Hornets] and hope for the best, but we’re just going to have to shoot for next year. Can we still get into the playoffs? Yeah, we can. Realistically, will we? No.”

Chris Kaman agreed. “Is Golden State going to lose? More than likely, they’re not,” said Kaman, who contributed nine points and five rebounds off the bench. “But there’s really nothing we can do about it now. What happened is over. We just have to prepare ourselves for [tonight] and then it’s all about next year.”

‘Atta boy, Kaman, ‘atta boy. You’ve done your best, but it just wasn’t enough. With magnetic leaders such as Maggette and Kaman on the roster, the sky’s the limit for this ragtag franchise that still hasn’t figured out why they’ve won just one playoff series since relocating to Los Angeles in 1984.