Los Angeles – It reads a bit like a riddle, but there’s nothing confusing about the results.
Clippers forward Vladimir Radmanovic needed several needle sticks to help him recover from the sprained left wrist he suffered at the end of Game 1 on Saturday night, but he did not receive any injections.
To get this one, you have to be open-minded about pain treatment. Radmanovic is, and that’s the main reason he was able to make such a quick recovery over the past two days.
Sunday afternoon, he underwent about an hour of acupuncture. By Monday morning, Radmanovic, one of the team’s best 3-point shooters, was back shooting well.
“I’m really open-minded. Whatever helps you to get better,” he said before Monday night’s game. “It’s like a deep-tissue massage, but nobody is giving you a massage. I’ve had it done three times before. I like it a lot.
“You can feel it right away. It’s a big pain release. That was the big concern (Sunday). I couldn’t move my wrist. I’m not healed, but I’m ready to go.”
Radmanovic said team trainer Jasen Powell first turned him on to the alternative medical treatment, and that several other team members have used acupuncture this season. Forward Walter McCarty is not one of them.
“I’d never let anybody stick me with those things,” McCarty joked. “I’m a natural healer.”
Nuggets coach George Karl, asked about Radmano- vic’s injury and what it would do if he couldn’t play, said, “He’s a good player, but I probably am more fearful of (Corey) Maggette than Radmanovic.”
Radmanovic showed few ill effects from the injury Monday night. His 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 16 seconds left in the third quarter put the Clippers up 65-50, effectively ending Denver’s rally. He finished with eight points and six rebounds in 21 minutes.
Road warriors
Much was made of the sixth-seeded Clippers’ late- season slide into home-court advantage against third-seeded Denver. The Clippers aren’t exactly a terrible road team.
This year, they set a franchise record with 20 road victories, tying Chicago and New Jersey for the sixth-best road record in the NBA.
“I’ve got no fear about going on the road and winning games,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said.
In the regular season, the home team wins 56 percent of the time. Since the NBA expanded to a 16-team playoff field in 1984, home teams in the first round win 65 percent of their games.
Badge of honor
As loyal fans go, Frankie Muniz, star of the Fox sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle,” would give Chicago Cubs fans a run for their money. The 20-year-old actor has been a Clippers season-ticket holder since 1999.
He became a fan, somewhat comically, as a kid growing up in New Jersey who liked to play video games.
“I used to play NBA Live 95 on Super Nintendo and honestly, the Clippers were the only team I didn’t care messing up the roster,” he said. “I’d put myself, my mom, my dad, my sister on the team. We’d be the starting five…. I’ve just always been a Clipper fan.”
Muniz can’t believe how many fans have jumped on the Clippers’ bandwagon this season. “In the olden days, when the Clippers were bad, the Laker fans could kind of look down on the Clippers,” Muniz said. “Now, when people talk about the Clippers, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re pretty good.’ It’s like, ‘No, you don’t get to like them now.”‘