Terrible Beauty, cont'd

The Los Angeles Clippers, formerly the San Diego Clippers and the Buffalo Braves, have amassed 1,247 wins over the past 42 years.  Unfortunately they have also amassed 2,149 losses, giving them a .367 winning percentage.  In those 42 years they have finished above .500 just seven times, and above .600 just once.

That one time they got above .600 - that one glorious year - was this year.  And now, for only the second time since the team arrived in California in 1978, this perennial doormat, this icon of mediocrity, this wretched paragon of professional basketball futility - is about to advance to the NBA playoff semifinals.  The team is giving this appropriate attention on their website.

But we can't get too excited.  Yes, they are young, deep, and good - but they are not playing the best basketball in the NBA, and they surely cannot win the championship with the current roster, although with Billups healthy it might have been a different story.

But they are playing the best basketball in the history of the franchise, and the best basketball in Los Angeles, and they are the most fun-to-watch NBA team in years, the new Playground All-Stars.  It's wonderful, the way basketball should be.

• Blake Griffin highlight reel here.  (How to make a Blake Griffin face here.)
• Chris Paul's highlight reel here.
• DeAndre Jordan highlight reel here.