Trabant » ASCAR grey area that theyd have to make a judgment call

LOS ANGELES -- With four games left before the playoffs, including one against second-place Oklahoma City, the Los Angeles Clippers are focused on fine-tuning themselves. Sure, they will take another victory over the Lakers, but as Blake Griffin said, "It doesnt mean that much to us." Griffin and Chris Paul scored 23 points apiece, and the Clippers hung their third consecutive rout on the Lakers, 120-97 Sunday to take three of four games this season from their beleaguered Staples Center co-tenants. "Our whole message is to worry about ourselves," Griffin said. "We know who we are. We just want to sharpen the things we do." It wasnt quite the blowout of the Clippers previous two wins -- 48 points on March 6 and 36 points on Jan. 10 -- but they were easily in command as the designated home team. "They were bigger, talented, and they played better," Lakers coach Mike DAntoni said. J.J. Redick added 15 points in his second game back from injury and DeAndre Jordan had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Pacific Division-winning Clippers, who improved to 32-6 at home while shooting 57 per cent. "Its a game that we expected to win," guard Jared Dudley said. "We got up, went out there and did a good job." The injury-plagued Lakers were down to just eight players after guard Kent Bazemore got hurt in the second quarter. Jordan Hill led them with 22 points and Nick Young added 18 points off the bench, where there were plenty of empty seats. Jodie Meeks had 17 points. "Its one of those years," forward Wesley Johnson said. "Its tough to fight through it." The Lakers lone win in the series, a 116-103 victory on opening night, came well before they lost Kobe Bryant and their season rapidly went downhill as the Clippers surged under new coach Doc Rivers. The Lakers lost their fourth in a row overall, seventh straight on the road, and 10th in 13 games for their 52nd defeat of the season. Having built a 22-point lead, the Clippers starters rested in the fourth, having already had two days off since their previous game. "Its nice to win when guys have relatively low minutes," Rivers said. Hedo Turkoglu roused his teammates with a driving dunk in the final three minutes. "That might be the top team moment this year," Griffin said. "Ive never seen him move that fast or jump that high." The Clippers reeled off eight straight points to open the third, including four by Griffin, for a 65-49 lead. Jordan dunked back-to-back, Paul made two 3-pointers, and Griffin hit 3 of 4 free throws, extending the lead to 84-65. It grew bigger with a 10-3 spurt that sent the Clippers into the fourth leading 94-72. The Clippers shot 62 per cent and outscored the Lakers 37-23 in the third. Young scored the first five points of the second quarter, giving the Lakers a two-point lead, their first of the game. They kept it close over the next 4 1/2 minutes before the Clippers used a 19-12 run to lead 57-49 at halftime. Griffin had eight points and Paul six in the teams first extended offensive burst of the game. Notes: The Lakers said Bazemore sprained his right foot and will undergo an MRI on Monday. ... The Lakers were already thin, with Pau Gasol (vertigo), Steve Nash (nerve root irritation), Chris Kaman (strained right calf), Jordan Farmar (strained right groin), Xavier Henry (ligament, wrist and knee injuries), and Bryant sidelined. ... Paul and Redick started their 18th game in the backcourt together, but first since Nov. 27, with injuries having sidelined both at various times. ... Clippers F Danny Granger sat out with a strained left hamstring, while G Jamal Crawford remains out with a strained left calf. ... 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The Miami Heat star tops the leagues global list of top-selling jerseys for the 2012-13 season, edging Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder and James Heat teammate Dwyane Wade for the No.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Say goodbye to the NASCAR era when a driver, fresh off a satisfying, top-10 finish, climbs from the car and raves about what a good points day it was. Winning is all that matters under the latest and most radical change to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. NASCARs overhauled championship format announced Thursday is a 16-driver, winner-take-all elimination system designed to reward "the most worthy, battle-tested" driver at the end of the season. "Riding around and being pleased because the (previous) format rewards consistency, those days are going to be pretty much over," NASCAR Chairman Brian France said. The field, expanded from 12 to 16 drivers, will be whittled down to a final four through eliminations after every three races of the 10-race Chase. The remaining four drivers will go into the season finale with an equal chance to win the championship: The first of the four to cross the finish line will be crowned Sprint Cup champion. "No math. No bonus points. Its as simple as it gets," France said. Its the fourth change to either the points or championship format since France created the Chase in 2004. For 28 years prior to the Chase, consistency reigned as the champion was the driver with the most points at the end of the season. That ended a year after Matt Kenseth won the 2003 title with a single victory, and France began his pursuit of creating "Game 7 moments." Along the way, he has pushed his agenda of wanting aggressive drivers chasing wins. Hell get that under the new format, which makes settling for points pretty much pointless. Why? Because a win in the 26-race regular season virtually guarantees a berth in the Chase. Then, eliminations begin, and a driver can guarantee a trip to the next round with a victory. Last August, Brad Keselowski chased Kyle Busch around Watkins Glen and declined to aggressively move his rival out of the way. Keselowski settled for second, racing for a good points day and declining to inflame his touchy relationship with Busch. But in doing so, he failed to win a regular-season race and missed the Chase, making him ineligible to defend his title. Under the new format, a winless Keselowski would have no choice in that same situation but to bang fenders with Busch and go after the win. Thats exactly what France wants to see on the track each week. "This is pretty clear: You have to win, you have to compete at a higher level, you have to take more chances," France said. France said he expects contact among cars. "Obviously there are some limits, but thats always part of NASCAR, to have some version of contact late in the race," he said. "Will this bring more of that? Im sure it will." The changes were lauded by Julie Sobieski, vice-president of league sports programming for ESPN, which will broadcast all 10 Chase races this year. "We have long felt that there was a greater opportunity within the Chase and are in favour of an elimination format, which has been most effecctive in American sports," she said.dddddddddddd Teams and drivers were briefed by NASCAR on the changes, and reaction was mostly positive. "This took guts, this is a big deal," said team owner Joe Gibbs, who saw his three Cup drivers combine for a series-best 12 wins last season. Busch, who won four races and finished fourth in the standings, wasnt as effusive. "I dont like to always be the Debbie Downer ... but some of the things they are doing, Im not in agreement with," Busch said, declining to be specific because he spoke before NASCAR unveiled the format. He noted that Keselowski would have had incentive to wreck Busch at Watkins Glen, and said there are other scenarios NASCAR must now consider. He referred to last season, when, Kenseth opened the Chase with a win at Chicago, where Busch followed his teammate across the finish line for a 1-2 finish for Gibbs. They again went 1-2 at New Hampshire the next week. But in the new format, thats not necessarily good enough. Busch would instead be looking to win in such a scenario to ensure a trip to the next round. "Im chasing him down to try to get to him, and if I got to him, I could have moved his (butt) out of the way to get a win and knock me into the next round of playoffs. Matt didnt need it," Busch said. "Those situations are what NASCAR is looking at. They are not wanting, Lets just race to the checkered and not cause any drama and have a good points day." Another twist: In the Kenseth-Busch scenario, it would have been in the best interest of Joe Gibbs Racing for Busch to win and, because the points reset after each round, meaning multiple victories by a driver in the Chase has no benefit -- the team would have incentive to orchestrate a Busch victory over Kenseth. "That would be a NASCAR grey area that theyd have to make a judgment call on," Busch said. NASCAR last year issued severe sanctions against Michael Waltrip Racing for trying to manipulate the finish of the last race of the regular season. The scandal led France to angrily warn teams they must all give 100 per cent at all times, and laying down to help a teammate or technical partner would not be tolerated. NASCAR President Mike Helton said nothing will change in race control and how officials enforce the rules. "Well officiate the sport the same way," Helton said. "We get the fact that this puts pressure on us officiating, and we feel like were capable of stepping up to it." France said extensive research done by NASCAR showed the new format appealed to fans because it eliminates points racing. "The avid fans like it because they dont particularly care for points racing, even though they understand it," France said. "The casual fans dont understand points racing ... often, with all the mathematicals, youve got to have a computer next to you to figure out who is in and who is out at a given moment. (This) clears all that off and then emphasizes winning, which everybody understands." ' ' '