Twice now this season, the  Clippers have brought joy to Clipperland with the announcement that they Mike Dunleavy Sr. has been relieved of his duties. The first time was in February when he gave up his role as head coach to focus his efforts on front office responsibilities and the second was earlier today when the team announced Dunleavy was permanently relieved from his front office responsibilities so he could focus solely on his…golf game? Rogaine? Working as a commentator for this season’s playoffs? I’m not exactly sure what he’s going to do now but I do know it won’t be taking any role in the team’s rebuilding this summer.

My initial thought when I pulled my laptop out was that I would relay my confusion over the timing of the move (announced during the second half of the team’s loss tonight), point in time in the season (only 18 games remaining) and the fact that the Dunleavy actually has a pretty decent track record in the front office, and did especially well for the team at this season’s trade deadline.

But then I realized that all of these things made it sound like I am upset by the move, and that is certainly not the case.

The team’s recent dismal play has all but guaranteed Kim Hughes will be given no chance at returning as the team’s head coach next year. Anyone they bring in to replace him is going to find the job much, much more attractive if it comes with a strong hand in shaping the team’s roster. With a All-Star center in Chris Kaman, a rising star in Eric Gordon and last year’s number one overall draft pick Blake Griffin set to return next season, the team has pieces in place to make it an attractive destination. Baron Davis and DeAndre Jordan are the only other players on the current roster who are also under contract for next year and they also hold the Bird Rights to Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake.

Who is going to be interested is a post for another day, though SportsIllustrated.com reported on its website today that current Charlotte Bobcats head coach Larry Brown recently reached out to Donald Sterling to let the owner know that he might be interested and available to return to the team.

Regardless what happens, the Clippers’ off-season just became even more interesting, and the possibilities that will arrive with it mean only one thing: there’s reason, once again, for optimism to return to Clipperland.

Everybody watch your chin, Matt Barnes is the inbounder!

The Clippers play at Orlando tonight, where they will try to stop a recent stretch of just plain awful basketball. They’ve lost three straight games, all of them by over 15 points.

Tonight’s game isn’t exactly one that jumps out as an obvious game to break the streak.

With such global turmoil and instability, it’s nice to know there are some things we can count on to consistently come through – bipartisanship in Washington, attack ads in political contests and a dud quarter from the Clippers to ruin an otherwise nice game.

Last night’s loss to the Suns was marred by such a quarter (the third quarter in this case). The Clippers entered the second half with a one-point lead and then seemed to sit back and watch as the Suns outscored them 39-18 in the period.

Channing Frye was 7-for-10 from three-point range, with 5 of those makes coming in the second half to stretch the lead.

The Clippers’ demise was brought on by a combination of poor ball movement on offense and even worse switching on defense. The Suns seemed to realize they could make the extra pass and free someone up for an easy bucket (usually that someone was Amare Stoudemire, who led all scorers with 30 points) thanks to the Clippers’ poor defensive play.

The Clippers wrap up this homestand tomorrow night against the Oklahoma City Thunder and third-year sensation Kevin Durant before leaving for a five-game road trip.

The Clippers looked like a professional basketball team  most of last night, when they beat the Utah Jazz despite Utah making a late run to make the final score a respectable 108-104.

The Clippers came out strong and never trailed in the game, scoring first on a three-pointer by Baron Davis. The team hit 10 of 22 three-point attempts, including Eric Gordon finishing 4-0f-6 from behind the arc.

The Clippers play next tomorrow night at home against the Suns.

The Clippers recent additions are all very good offensive players who figured to fit in nicely with interim coach Kim Hughes’ fast-paced offensive plan.

That success on offense continued last night as the team scored 112 point against Phoenix.

Unfortunately, coach Hughes apparently has yet to spend any significant time working on defense, as they gave up 125 points and lost, ending their 3-game win streak.

The most disappointing part of the loss wasn’t the total number of points they gave up to a Phoenix team that is known for putting up points in bunches, but rather that they allowed Robin Lopez to score 30 points against them.

That’s right, Robin Lopez and not Brook Lopez, score 30 points against the Clippers, 19 of them before Chris Kaman was ejected from the game for arguing calls.

So the Clippers start start their 2-game road trip on a loss and have to look to fare better Sunday against the Kings up in Sacramento.