When “Clipper Darrell” Bailey’s cellphone rang Sunday morning, the ringer chimed: “Let’s go Clippers, let go! Let’s go Clippers, let’s go!”
“It’s Clipper time! Who is this?” Bailey answered.
For the first time since the team moved to Los Angeles in 1984, it is truly Clipper time.
While the Lakers boast nine NBA championships in Los Angeles, the Clippers entered this season with no titles and one winning season since moving there. In their first playoff appearance since 1997, the Clippers defeated the Nuggets to advance to the second round, a first for the franchise since they were the Buffalo Braves in 1976.
The Clippers were hoping for the chance to finally prove themselves against the Lakers in the potential “Hallway Series” between the Staples Center tenants. Instead, the Clippers will begin a second-round series tonight at Phoenix, which disposed of the Lakers.
For the first time, the Clippers are alive in the playoffs while the Lakers are on vacation.
“We feel we have bragging rights in L.A. now,” said Clippers assistant coach Kim Hughes, a former Nuggets assistant and player. “But even if we won a title this year or next year, it’s still a Laker town. But we have no intention of stopping.”
There may be a few Clippers fans popping up in Los Angeles now. As for Bailey, he has stood by the Clippers through the lean years, enduring ribbing from Lakers fans.
Thirteen years ago, Bailey, then a Lakers fan, worked for a cellphone store and was told by his boss that he wouldn’t amount to anything. After Bailey went home feeling sorry for himself, he turned on a Clippers game and felt he could relate to them, the disrespected underdog.
“I’ve stuck with them ever since then,” said Bailey, who now sells rims and tires.
At his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Lynwood, he has a Clippers emblem on his red, white and blue driveway and two logos on a wall alongside it, Clippers chairs by his swimming pool and an office/recreation room filled with Clippers furniture and memorabilia.
While actor-comedian Billy Crystal might be the Clippers’ most well-known fan, “Clipper Darrell” is their unofficial mascot. A season-ticket holder since 2001, Bailey wears a tailor-made half-red and half-blue suit and tie, leads the fans through chants, dances wildly during timeouts, signs autographs and takes countless pictures. When the Clippers returned from Denver after taking a 3-1 lead in the first round, he was one of four fans who showed up to greet his team’s charter.
“I just feel like Clippers fans are so real,” Bailey said recently. “They are real people. They are loyal. You can always root for a winning team. Man, I can’t even sleep at night. I’m so excited that these guys finally came together.”
From now until the end of this season, every Clippers playoff game is the biggest game in franchise history. They have a legitimate shot at beating the Suns. And with the Lakers watching, yes, this is Clippers time.
“Everything is happening just the way we planned it,” Clippers general manager and former Lakers star Elgin Baylor said. “We expected this.”
Said Bailey: “(Lakers fans) can’t say anything. What can they say? All they can say is we’ve got championships. I don’t look at the past. I’m going to look at the future.”
Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
