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After a successful opening run, Lob City has officially closed its doors for summer construction. How it will look when it finally opens back up again in October is anybody’s guess, but it's clear this town needs to make a few changes before it can be considered a serious contender.

Here are eight key questions facing the Clippers this offseason.

1. What happens with Vinny Del Negro?

Del Negro's future has been a cloud lingering over the team since late March, when the Clippers lost three road games in three days. The coach was on the hottest of hot seats and looked as though he would lose his job with the team’s next loss. The Clippers then won six straight games, salvaging Del Negro’s job and their season.

Was the Clippers’ strong finish and first playoff series win in six years enough to save Del Negro’s job? Clippers general manager Neil Olshey wouldn’t discuss Del Negro’s job status during the team’s exit interviews, but he has until June 1 to decide whether to exercise the team option on Del Negro for next year. The bigger question may be which coach the team believes would appease Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, who will soon decide on their long-term futures. Are the Clippers better off sticking with Del Negro or making a run at one of the high-profile free-agent coaches like Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Mike D'Antoni, Nate McMillan, Stan Van Gundy or Jeff Van Gundy? The smart money is on the Clippers sticking with Del Negro for one more season.

2. Will Paul and Griffin be with the Clippers for the long haul?

When questions about Paul and Griffin come up, Clippers front-office types like Olshey and team president Andy Roeser always use the term “Clipper for life.” It used to be a tag only worn by their longtime play-by-play man Ralph Lawler. After all, who would voluntarily chose to play with the Clippers forever and for Donald Sterling if they could go elsewhere?

That culture, however, has slowly begun to change, and much of that shift in philosophy has a lot to do with the presence of Griffin and Paul. If both believe they can be the cornerstones of a successful franchise, there is a good chance they will stay with the Clippers. There is no doubt the Clippers will offer both players max deals. The only question is whether they can do enough to convince Paul and Griffin that they will do everything possible to surround them with the players needed to contend for a championship.

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Western Conference first round: Game 5 (Clippers lead 3-1)
Clippers vs. Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum, 6:30 p.m. PT

Five storylines to track:

1. Closing time: With their next win in this series, the Clippers will accomplish something that has only happened to the franchise one other time since moving to California in 1978 and only twice in franchise history -- win a playoff series. The last time the Clippers won a playoff series was six years ago when they beat the Denver Nuggets in the first round in five games. With a 3-1 series lead, the Clippers could close out their first round series with Memphis in five games Wednesday night. Unlike Lakers center Andrew Bynum, however, Chris Paul knows the fourth win will not come easy. "The close-out game is the toughest one,” said Paul, who has only advanced past the first round once in his career. Only eight teams in NBA playoffs history have come back from a 31 series deficit to win a sevengame series but expect Game 5 to be close. Despite being down 31 in the series, the Grizzlies actually lead the overall scoreboard 386385.

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Frank Reich didn’t watch the Los Angeles Clippers complete the greatest comeback in NBA playoff history against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night. He was asleep as the Clippers came back from a 27-point deficit late in the third quarter and from 24 points down with 7:55 left in the game. But when Reich read the headlines online in the morning and saw the highlights on television, a big smile came over his face.

“Whenever I see a big comeback in any sport it make me think back to the comebacks I was apart of in college and in the NFL,” Reich said. “I always think back to the dynamics of those games and the good memories from being a part of those teams.”

Reich quarterbacked the Buffalo Bills to the greatest comeback in NFL history when he led the Bills back from a 35-3 third quarter deficit to a 41-38 overtime victory against the Houston Oilers in the 1992 AFC Wild Card playoffs. He also led the University of Maryland back from a 31-0 deficit against Miami in 1984 to a 42-40 victory, which was the biggest comeback in college football history at the time.

“The great thing about being a part of the greatest comeback is it’s such a team-oriented thing. It’s not like one guy just takes over,” said Reich, who was a quarterback in the NFL for 15 years and is now the receivers’ coach of the Arizona Cardinals. “You really do need everyone and everything to click in football and in basketball. Even if one guy scores 50 points, it’s the defensive play of the team that drives the comeback. It’s the same in football with your defense making stops and your special teams playing well. I do feel a connection when I see it happen. You take pride in the fact that you were on a team that did something special like that and when you see it happen in other sports it reminds me of that and it’s a great thing. I love that.”

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Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro, scratching the five o’clock shadow he has been growing since before the playoffs, smiled as he talked about his team’s lack of postseason experience before Sunday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

“Guys think they're ready, but they're not,” Del Negro said. “It will be a different level. It will be a different intensity, and when you're in a series and teams take away certain things, your weaknesses show more.”

Well, for three and half quarters, Del Negro was right. The Clippers weren’t ready. In fact, they looked like a team that wasn’t even ready to play a high school team, let alone the franchise’s first playoff game in six years.

The Clippers were down 27 points with about two minutes left in the third quarter and down 95-71 with less than eight minutes left in the game. Del Negro was all but ready to grab one of the white T-shirts that the team handed to Memphis fans and wave it at the officials to put an end to the game before Chris Paul begged him not to.

“At the end of the third quarter Coach took me out and I went nuts,” Paul said. “I said, 'Coach give us a chance! Give us a chance!' He puts us back in there and [Eric] Bledsoe got going, Nick Young was amazing and Reggie Evans gets the game ball, he was unreal.”

Del Negro had already seen Caron Butler fracture his left hand late in the third quarter and watched his former player Derrick Rose tear his ACL in the final minute of Chicago’s playoff opening win on Saturday. He wanted to sit his starters down but he listened to Paul and gave them a few more minutes. Suddenly, Memphis’ 21-point lead was whittled down to 16. Then 10. Then, well, you know.

The Clippers closed out the game on a 28-3 run to beat the Memphis, 99-98, and complete the greatest comeback in NBA playoff history and the greatest win in Clippers history.

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Clippers (40-26) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (41-25) at FedEx Forum, 6:30 p.m. PT

Five storylines to track:

1. Playoff experience: The Memphis Grizzlies beat the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of last year's playoffs and took the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games; falling one win short of the Western Conference Finals. Meanwhile three of the five Clippers' starters have never played in a playoff game before. “That’s amazing,” Clippers forward Caron Butler said when informed of that number. “Anything can happen in the playoffs. It’s going to be physical and it’s going to be loud.” The only way for the Clippers to get playoffs experience, of course, is to actually play in the playoffs and Butler believes playoff rookies like Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Randy Foye and Eric Bledsoe, will be fine after they first touch the ball. “My first playoff games I wanted to do so many things when I first touched the ball,” Butler said. “I wanted to jab step, I wanted to shoot, I wanted to dunk and lay-up all at once. After that it was OK. You just have to take a deep breath and be patient.”

2. Turning the page: The first thing the Clippers and Grizzlies must do come Sunday night is forget about the regular season and how bad (Clippers) or how well (Grizzlies) finished the season. The Clippers finished the season losing three of their last four games while the Grizzlies come into the postseason winning six straight. Their records down the stretch enabled the Grizzlies to steal homecourt advantage from the Clippers, which was still on the minds of some players before they left for Memphis, knowing they could have easily been staying home for Games 1 and 2. “We shot ourselves in the foot,” said Clippers forward Kenyon Martin. "We know that…. Win any one of those games and we'd get home court. Games early in the season come back to bite you late in the season."

3. Foul mood: The Clippers and Blake Griffin have complained about the hard fouls Griffin has been taking this season and Griffin anticipates it only getting worse in the playoffs as he prepares to face Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Marreese Speights. “I heard it gets a lot more physical,” Griffin said. “We’ll see. I have to keep an open mind and get a feel for the first game… If it gets any more [physical] I might not make it. I know it’s going to be physical but I can’t imagine it getting a whole lot more physical than it’s been but I’m ready for that.” Butler said the playoffs will be more physical for everyone and every player has to prepare for the increased intensity. “We just have to be prepared for the challenge,” Butler said. “We have to protect ourselves, be padded up and be ready to go.”

4. Getting defensive: The first thing teams have to be prepared for when they face the Grizzlies is their suffocating defense and ability to essentially take a sledge hammer to your offensive plans. The Grizzlies topped the NBA in steals (9.6) and forced turnovers (17.1) after leading each category last season, becoming the first team to lead the league in both steals per game and forced turnovers per game for consecutive seasons since the 1995-96 and 1996-97 Seattle SuperSonics. “They try to muck everything up,” Clippers guard Randy Foye said. “They try to make everything chaotic. They try to pressure you and make you do things you don’t want to do. They want to make every possession a dog fight. They want to grind everything out and make you take the shot that they want you to take not the shot you want to take.”

5. Turning point: Last month the Clippers were left for dead after they lost three games in three days but they reeled six straight wins and won 13 of 15 games after blowing out the Grizzlies at home, 101-85, on March 24. The win salvaged the Clippers season and probably saved Vinny Del Negro his job. The Clippers win at home also underscored how important homecouurt could be in this series. The Clippers won their first two games against Memphis at home and lost their most recent match-up on the road. While the Grizzlies have won 10 straight at home and haven’t lost a game at the FedEx Forum in over a month, the Clippers have lost their last three games on the road and finished the season with a below .500 record away from home.

PLAYA VISTA, Calif. – Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin is used to getting hard fouls during the regular season and fully expects more of the same once the playoffs start on Sunday against the Memphis Grizzlies.

“I heard it gets a lot more physical,” Griffin said with a smile after practice Friday. “We’ll see. I have to keep an open mind and get a feel for the first game… If it gets any more [physical] I might not make it. I know it’s going to be physical but I can’t imagine it getting a whole lot more physical than it’s been but I’m ready for that.”

This week Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant said Griffin should hit back if the hard fouls continue in the postseason.

“I'd smack the f--- out of somebody,” Bryant told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Wednesday. “I've known him for a while and he's a really nice guy so I don't know if he'd want to do that. But I would. I would've done it early in the year.”

Griffin understood what Bryant meant but said the playoffs weren’t the right time to retaliate.

“Now’s not the right time,” Griffin said. “Going into the playoffs we need everyone on the floor. We can’t give up stupid points as far of technical fouls or flagrant fouls or something like that. You just have to keep your composure whenever something like that happens.”

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Clippers forward Nick Young did not dress for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Hornets with flu-like symptoms and is listed as day-to-day.

Young is averaging 10.2 points and 1.9 rebounds in 20 games with the Clippers since being traded to Los Angeles last month.

The Clippers also recalled rookie guard Travis Leslie from the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA Development League on Sunday but Leslie was not active for the game against New Orleans.

Leslie has been with the Jam since March 30, and appeared in four playoff games with Bakersfield. In two separate stints with the Jam this season, Leslie appeared in 10 regular season games and averaged 10.2 points, 1.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds and shot 50.4 percent from the field in 20.4 minutes per game.

Leslie has averaged 1.4 points and 4.5 minutes in 10 games played for the Clippers this season.

Whatever chances the Los Angeles Clippers had of ruffling the feathers of the Los Angeles Lakers by hanging a Pacific Division championship banner up at Staples Center likely died Thursday in Phoenix.

The Suns’ 93-90 win over the Clippers not only kept the Suns’ playoff hopes alive but probably ended any hopes the Clippers had of overtaking the Lakers for the Pacific title. The Lakers are now one game up with the tie-breaker in-hand so the Clippers would essentially have to make up two games with only three games left in the season.

Stranger things have happened but with Kobe Bryant coming back for the Lakers on Friday and the Clippers finishing the season with back-to-back games on the road against the playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks, it doesn’t look likely.

Now, Lakers fans may still be scoffing at the notion that the Clippers would dare hang up a banner as meaningless as a Pacific Division title at Staples Center but they may have missed the fact that the Los Angeles Kings, who haven’t won Stanley Cup, have a division and conference championship banner hanging up in the rafters.

The Clippers have been itching for any reason to hang up a banner, a jersey, anything at Staples Center since 1999 and this was their chance, whether the Lakers’ fans think its legitimate or not.

Although the Clippers probably won’t overtake the Lakers in the Pacific this season, Chris Paul has changed the culture surrounding the Clippers so much that it’s impossible not to hear a Buffalo Braves reference during a Clippers game or read it in a story this season because you really do have to go all the way back to the Braves to find a time when the franchise was this good.

Not only have the Clippers won 13 of 16 games but they have are 16-15 on the road this season and are attempting to finish the season with a .500 or better road record for the first time since moving to Los Angeles in 1984.

This season Paul has helped the Clippers end long road losing streaks in Denver (9 straight losses), Utah (16), Orlando (9), San Antonio (17), Dallas (10) and nearly added Phoenix to the list, but will have to wait until next season to snap a losing streak that hit 10 on Thursday.

With their next win, the Clippers will clinch the best winning percentage in franchise history which was previously held by, you guessed it, the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves (.598). It would also go a long way in clinching the No. 4 seed in the West, which would give the Clippers home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, likely against the Memphis Grizzlies

All the numbers and statistics the Clippers have put up this season, however, can’t replicate or make up for the fact that many key players on the Clippers such as Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Randy Foye and Eric Bledsoe have no playoff experience. Thursday’s game in Phoenix, however, was a perfect example of the kind of playoff atmosphere and intensity they will face next month.

“The playoffs are a whole different level,” Del Negro said this week. “It will be different for some of the guys that haven't been through it. Guys think they're ready, but they're not. It will be a different level.”

The biggest lesson Paul said he will try to instill in his teammates about the playoffs is having a short memory. Every win and every loss should be forgotten the moment the game is over until one team accumulates four wins. With three games left in the season, the Clippers have already had the greatest regular season in franchise history, but Paul knows all of that will be about as meaningless as a Pacific Division championship banner in Los Angeles once the playoffs finally start.

LOS ANGELES -- It should come as no surprise Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin is starting to feel the backlash this season of the fame and notoriety he enjoyed last season.

The only thing we like better than the story of a breakout player is the subsequent story of said player’s downfall. In the case of Griffin, it’s not so much a story of his downfall but how one of the most popular players in the league last season has turned into arguably the most polarizing one this season, at least amongst many of his peers around the league.

“I’ve heard that,” Griffin said with a smile after the Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings 109-94 on Saturday. “It’s not something I embrace or try to do. It just kind of happens. I’ve seemed to have had a good week as far as that goes.”

Griffin’s week included dunking on Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol so harshly on multiple occasions Wednesday night that the Lakers asked the NBA to review the plays. The league eventually decided Griffin’s third quarter shove from behind on Gasol deserved to be a flagrant-one foul.

“I don’t know about that one,” Griffin said about the league's upgraded foul. “I don’t know about that one. I felt it was kind of a nudge and then some extra after that. I just kind of sold it but if you send it in that many times and say enough about it I guess it forced their hands to do something.”

His week continued on Thursday night when he was called an “actor” by Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins after the two got into a shoving match and nearly traded blows.

“I first heard about it from my acting coach, he sent me an e-mail,” Griffin joked after Saturday’s game, responding to Cousins' comments for the first time. “He was obviously thrilled. It was a compliment. I guess he’s seen some commercials and stuff and I appreciate it.”

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Clippers (32-22) vs. Sacramento Kings (19-35) at Power Balance Pavilion, 7 p.m. PT

Five storylines to track:

1. Starting over: The Clippers will attempt to start a new winning streak Thursday against the Kings after they had their six-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday against the Lakers. It was the team’s longest winning streak since March 18-31, 1992. The Clippers also had a seven-game home winning streak broken in the loss. The Clippers hadn’t won seven straight since 1991. Despite the loss, the Clippers are still 10 games over .500 (32-22). It is only the third time that the Clippers have been more than five games over .500 this many games into a season since moving to Los Angeles in 1984. They finished the season eight games over .500 in 1991-92 and 12 games over .500 in 2005-06. Those are the only two seasons in which the Clippers finished over .500 since moving to L.A. The Clippers’ 32-21 record this season after 53 games is also the second best in franchise history, trailing the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves who were 34-19 after 53 games.

2. Butler did it: If there is an X-factor on the Clippers this season, it’s Caron Butler. The Clippers are 18-9 when he scores 13 or more points and 12-7 when he had 5 or more rebounds. Against the Lakers, Butler scored a season-high 28 points, going 9-of-18 from the field, 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, while grabbing 4 rebounds in 34 minutes. It was the most points Butler has scored in a game since he had 30 on Dec. 30, 2010 as a member of the Dallas Mavericks. It is the first time this season Butler has had over 25 points for the Clippers.

3. Clutch CP3: Clippers guard Chris Paul had 22 points and a season-high 16 assists against the Lakers on Wednesday. It was his 124th career game with at least 20 points and 10 assists and the most assists in a game for Paul since Jan. 26, 2011 when he had 17 for the New Orleans Hornets. It was the 17th time in Paul’s career that he has had 20 or more points and 16 or more assists and the first time since Dec. 18, 2009 when he had 30 points and 19 assists in a win over Denver. Paul is the only player in the NBA this season to average over 19.0 points and 9.0 assists per game and 2.0 steals.

4. Playoffs?: Perhaps the biggest fallout from the Clippers’ loss to the Lakers was where it put them in the race for the Pacific Division. Even if they beat the Kings in Sacramento on Thursday, they will be two full games behind the Lakers, who now hold the all-important tie-breaker if they finish with the same record. Suddenly their goal now with 12 games left in the season will be to secure the No. 4 seed and at least have home court advantage in the first round. If the Clippers beat the Kings they will be two games up on the Grizzlies and Mavericks and three games up on the Rockets and Nuggets.

5. Dunk City: After Blake Griffin’s two highlight reel dunks on Pau Gasol last night, he now has 154 dunks, the most in the NBA by 21. Clippers center DeAndre Jordan is third in the league with 116 dunks. Jordan is the only player in the NBA to have at least 115 dunks and 115 blocks this season. As a team the Clippers have recorded 82 alley-oop dunks this season, most in the NBA, followed by the Lakers with 70 and the Knicks with 59. The Clippers also have recorded the most dunks this season with 318.

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul today was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, March 26, through Sunday, April 1, the NBA announced Monday.

Paul led the Clippers to a perfect 5-0 homestand to end March and a 4-0 mark last week, averaging 21.5 points on 56 percent shooting, while dishing out 11.3 assists per game. He began the week with 25 points and 10 assists, as the Clippers defeated Paul’s former team, the New Orleans Hornets, 97-85 on March 26. Paul, who ranks third in the NBA in assists (8.8), matched his season-high with 15 assists in a 103-86 win over the Phoenix Suns on March 28.

Since losing three games in three days last month, Paul has led the Clippers to their first five-game winning streak since 2006 and on the brink of their first six-game winning streak since 1992. If the Clippers beat Dallas on Tuesday, they will also equal last season's victory total (32) in 29 fewer games.

Paul had 185 total assists in March, establishing a new Clippers franchise record for assists in a calendar month, passing Norm Nixon’s 179 assists for the San Diego Clippers in November 1983.

Clippers (31-21) vs. Dallas Mavericks (30-23) at American Airlines Arena, 5:30 p.m. PT

Five storylines to track:

1. Historic streak: After losing three games in three days last month, the Clippers have put together one of the franchise's best winning streaks since moving to Los Angeles in 1984. The Clippers won their fifth straight game last Saturday against the Utah Jazz, giving them their first five-game winnings streak since Nov. 2- Nov.12, 2006. If the Clippers can beat Dallas on Monday, it would give the Clippers their first six-game winning streak since March 18 – March 31, 1992. The longest winning streak in franchise history is 11 games from Nov. 3 – Nov. 23, 1974 when the Clippers were the Buffalo Braves. Since relocating to Los Angeles, the Clippers have had just three winning streaks of six-games or longer. If the Clippers beat Dallas they will also equal last season's victory total (32) in 29 fewer games.

2. Moving on up: The Clippers are now 10 games over .500 (31-21) following their win over the Jazz on Saturday. It's only the third time that the Clippers have been more than five games over .500 this many games into a season since moving to Los Angeles. They finished the season eight games over .500 in 1991-92 and 12 games over .500 in 2005-06. Those are the only two seasons in which the Clippers finished over .500 since moving to L.A. The Clippers recent 5-0 homestand helped them move up to fourth in the Western Conference and within a game and half of the Lakers. It was just the third time in franchise history that the Clippers had gone undefeated in a homestand of five games or more.

3. Surviving March: The Clippers survived a brutal stretch of playing 20 games in 31 days in March with an 11-9 record. The Clippers are the first team in 45 years since the Cincinnati Royals in Feb. 1967 to play 20 or more games in a single month. The Clippers salvaged their record in the month with a 5-0 homestand and the inspired play of Chris Paul, who had 26 points and six assists on Saturday against Utah. Paul had 185 total assists in March, establishing a new Clippers franchise record for assists in a calendar month, passing Norm Nixon’s 179 assists for the San Diego Clippers in November 1983.

4. Playoff push: After playing five games in ten days at home, the Clippers will now finish the season by playing nine of their last 14 games on the road starting in Dallas on Monday. The Clippers have improved on defense since their three game losing streak but their ability to score more easily after not reaching 100 points in nine straight games has been just as big a factor in their turnaround. This season, the Clippers are 19-3 when scoring over 100 points and 12-18 when scoring under the century mark. Hitting the 100 point mark on the road has become even more important for the Clippers who are 9-1 when scoring over 100 points but just 2-12 when scoring under 100 points.

5. Close call: The Clippers have played in 20 games this season that have been decided by 5 points or less. After a tough stretch of blowing such games after Chauncey Billups was lost for the season the Clippers are now 11-9 in games decided by 5 points or less. The Clippers nine losses by five points or less is the fourth highest total in the NBA this season. Paul has been a huge factor in the Clippers’ ability to close out games. Paul is one of the league leaders in fourth-quarter scoring, averaging 5.8 points in the final period, fourth-most in the NBA.

LOS ANGELES -- As Chris Paul put on the T-shirt hanging in his locker room, he looked down at it and smiled.

The shirt featured a picture of Muhammad Ali with “The Greatest” written in big, bold, black letters.

Moments earlier, Paul had scored a driving layup with five seconds left to give the Los Angeles Clippers a 98-97 comeback win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday. It was the kind of proverbial knockout punch Paul has provided the Clippers time after time in clutch situations this season.

As Paul stood in the center of the Clippers' locker room, he laughed when he was asked about being the Clippers’ closer this season.

“This ain’t my first time,” said Paul, who finished with 20 points and 14 assists. “I’m used to it. I’ve been a starter every day since I’ve been in the NBA so I’ve been in this situation a number of times.”

When he was asked how many times he could continue putting his team on his back in the fourth quarter he simply said, “As many as it takes. It’s not just me. It’s a collective effort. We needed a defensive stop at the end. Caron [Butler] getting that big bucket. We just got to keep competing.”

There is no real secret to putting together a winning streak. There is often little difference between winning game one and winning game five but there has been something elusive to actually stringing wins together this season for the Clippers. For the first time since Feb. 1, the Clippers have now won four straight games and six straight at home.

The Clippers’ inability to win consistently obviously hasn’t been a problem confined to this season for the franchise. The last time the Clippers won five games in a row was November 2006. As far as winning streaks go, five is certainly not a big number. By comparison, the Utah Jazz, the Clippers’ opponent on Saturday, won six straight last week and won five straight earlier this season. If the season ended today the Jazz would not be in the playoffs.

“You obviously have to play well but this is such a strange season,” coach Vinny Del Negro said. “The games jump on you so fast. The month of March has been very difficult trying to incorporate new guys and just the scheduling. It comes down to the execution of the gameplan and playing together. It’s always a work in progress.”

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LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Clippers forward Reggie Evans was fined $25,000 by the NBA for making an obscene gesture during the Clippers-New Orleans Hornets game on Monday, the league announced Friday.

Before the Clippers played the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, Evans said he would appeal the fine.

Television cameras caught Evans dragging his middle finger across his face as he smiled at what appeared to be a heckler during the second quarter of the game while he was at the free-throw line.

Evans, however, said he was jokingly making the gesture toward the Clippers bench and at teammates Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, not at a heckler.

"We have these nicknames that we say to each other on the team," Evans said. "In practice, we may call someone 'cheesecake' or we may call someone 'cupcake' and on the play D.J. and Blake were saying, 'Good job, cupcake.' And if you see the replay, I'm looking at them while I'm doing it. That's who I'm looking at. It's an inside joke. If you look at it, I'm smiling and looking at D.J. and Blake."

Evans has averaged 2.2 points and 5.3 rebounds in 45 games for the Clippers this season.

Clippers (29-21) vs. Portland Trailblazers (24-27) at Staples Center, 7:30 p.m. PT

Five storylines to track:

1. Streaking: The Clippers are in the midst of their first three-game winning streak since Jan.26-Feb. 1 and their longest home winning streak (5) since the end of January. It’s the Clippers’ fourth win streak of at least three games this season and a win would match their longest win streak of the season of four games. The Clippers actually haven’t won five straight games since 2006. Not surprisingly the Clippers current record is their best 50-game start to a season since beginning the 2005-06 season 30-20. “The time is now,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “The guys have to make a move now and they know that.”

2. Billups back: Since Chauncey Billups went down with a season-ending Achilles injury last month, the Clippers have not been the same. They were 15-7 while averaging 99.4 points and shooting 46.3 percent from the field with him. Without him they are 14-14 while averaging 95.2 points and shooting 43.9 percent. Bilups, however, has made a difference since he has returned to the bench in a suit. The Clippers are 5-0 with him on the sidelines at home and 0-3 without him on the road since his injury prevents him from traveling. “I told Chauncey he’s got to stop being selfish and come on the road with us too,” Chris Paul said. “It’s no secret that we’re undefeated when he’s there. Me and Mo [Williams] told him so his Achilles doesn’t swell up on the flight he needs to jump on a Greyhound bus a day before we play and get to where we’re going.”

3. Ides of March: The month of March was always seen as a make or break month for the Clippers. They are playing 20 games in 31 days, the most played by an NBA team in 45 years. So far, the Clippers haven’t exactly risen to the challenge. They are 9-9 in March and have had three losing streaks; including losing three games in three days on the road last week. The Clippers, however, have responded well following their fruitless back-to-back-to-back with three straight wins at home by an average margin of 15 points; their most dominant stretch of game so far this season.

4. Playoffs? Playoffs?: Going into Friday night’s game against the Trail Blazers the Clippers are in sole possession of the fourth seed in the Western Conference and are just 1.5 games behind the Lakers for first place in the Pacific Division. A win against Portland would put them just a single game back with a game against the Lakers coming up on April 4. As good as the Clippers look right now in the standings they are less than three games away from dropping down to the nine seed and completely out of the playoffs. “If you lose a game you drop to eighth, ninth or even tenth. If you win a game you might shoot up to third,” Caron Butler said. “I don’t want to look at [the standings]. I just want to win games and look at it at the end of April.”

5. Lob City: Despite going a couple of games this month without having one of their signature lob dunks, the Clippers lead the NBA this season with with 78 alley-oop dunks. The Lakers are second with 68 and the Knicks are third with 58. Chris Paul's total of 43 alley-oop assists this season ranks him first in the NBA after he only had 12 assists on lobs all of last season with the New Orleans Hornets. Blake Griffin leads the NBA this season with 140 dunks and DeAndre Jordan is fourth with 110 dunks. They are the only teammates ranked in the top five this season.