• The Isiah Thomas rumors are categorically false.
• Kim Hughes is all aboard the Baron Davis Express. “My style would be running,” Hughes said. “I think we can run.” Hughes drew some contrasts between himself and Mike Dunleavy. “[Dunleavy] called a lot of plays for our guys and they’re very good plays,” Hughes said. “I’ll give the players a little bit more freedom. Twofold. Because I don’t know as many plays as [Dunleavy] does. And I don’t think our players want to hear me call a lot of plays. So I’ll leave a lot of the play-calling up to Baron … and we will try to push the ball whenever possible.”

The Clippers made a decision Thursday many have been calling for since the 2007-08 season. Mike Dunleavy is no longer the head coach of the team.

I’ve long been conflicted about Dunleavy’s tenure as head coach. There’s a tendency to forget how bad things were 10 years ago, how Dunleavy’s hire coincided, almost to the week, with the Clippers’ matching an $82 million offer sheet for Elton Brand and a $42 million offer sheet for Corey Maggette. Those expenditures were unthinkable in the 90s, and Dunleavy’s arrival had something to do with that. Under Dunleavy, the Clippers became just another NBA franchise, one that succeeded and failed on the strength of its on-court execution and personnel decisions. Ten years ago, that wasn’t the case.  More...

More from the Clippers:

In defining the move, Dunleavy said, “I’ve had several conversations with our owner (Donald T. Sterling) concerning what we think is best for the team overall. We have discussed the possibility of my concentrating only on Basketball Operations. That option has always been available to me.”

Dunleavy continued, “I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the ideal time for me to direct my efforts toward the many personnel opportunities that lie before us, such as the trade market, the Draft and the free agent process. We fully expect to be active and productive on all those fronts.”  More...

Here’s a piece I wrote recapping the game for ESPN Los Angeles.

A couple of additional points, before going to the video of the final possession:  More...

• It’s a strange game. Strange insofar as the Clippers, whose collective eFG on jumpers is 42.3 percent, drained 11 of 17 shots between 16 feet and the 3-point line (64.8 percent), and 10 for 19 from beyond the arc (52.6 percent/78.9 percent eFG). That’s an outlier of major proportions, particularly against a team that contests shots the way Cleveland does. As a team, the Clippers shoot only 38.0 percent from 16-23 feet and 31.3 percent/50.6 eFG from 3-point range. Assemble tonight’s collection of shots again, and it’s unlikely the Clippers break 90.

Hours before the Clippers knocked off the Lakers on Wednesday, I asked Mike Dunleavy how a coach can tell the difference between real, permanent growth and the fleeting illusion of improvement.

“You ask yourself, ‘Is the team able to do what it wants to do?’”

Wednesday night, the Clippers got most of what they wanted offensively courtesy of Baron Davis, who is playing his most prolific stretch of basketball since he arrived in Los Angeles.

What accounts for that uptick? It’s probably a combination of factors.  More...