--As expected, F/C Zach Randolph was punished by the league for punching Phoenix Suns C Louis Amundson in the face in the first quarter of the Clippers' loss last Tuesday at Phoenix. Randolph was suspended without pay for two games, in an announcement made by Stu Jackson, the NBA's vice president of basketball operations.
Randolph and Amundson got tangled together while trying to gain position underneath the Clippers' basket. Randolph appeared to throw an elbow that knocked Amundson to the ground, and when the Suns' player rose and stood nose-to-nose with Randolph, it was then that Randolph hit him in the face. Amundson got right up and apparently was not hurt. Otherwise, Randolph without doubt would have received an even stiffer sanction. --Only a small handful of support staff members of the Clippers' basketball operation were around when newly-appointed Phoenix Suns head coach Alvin Gentry was the Clippers' head coach from 2000-2003. Among the most visible are athletic trainer Jasen Powell, equipment manager Pete Serrano and assistant equipment manager Mathias Testi.
--Frustration clearly has swept over the Clippers this season. Mike Dunleavy leads all NBA coaches in technical fouls drawn and in Wednesday's loss to the Phoenix Suns, swingman Ricky Davis was ejected from the game, after drawing two successive technical fouls at the end of the third quarter. Davis seemed to be upset that a foul had not been called on behalf of teammate Baron Davis, who drove to the lane and banked in a shot as the buzzer sounded. Adding more salt to the wound, a replay of the last-second shot, mandatory at the end of every quarter, revealed that it was released after the quarter expired.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Well, we're not going to get any bigger." -- Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy, when asked if he had any alternative plans to combat the Phoenix Suns in the second game of the teams' back-to-back meetings.
