A Wake-Up Call From L.A. Rival

So this purple shell that once battled to be the best team in the NBA has but one fight left.

Can the Lakers finish this season as the best team in their own building?

My, how the unsightly have fallen, from national champs to Figueroa flunkies, from sterling to Sterling.

Could the Clippers actually finish with a better record?

It has happened only twice in the 20 years that the two teams have shared the town like a bully and his little brother share ice cream.

The most recent season was 1992-93, a monumental occasion best described in two bizarre concepts:

1)Sedale

2)Threatt

Yeah, it has been that long, and it’s now that bad, this winter reminiscent of the time when Threatt led the Lakers in scoring, assists, turnovers and mispronunciations.

The Clippers, with future Laker Ron Harper, finished at 41-41.

The Lakers, with former Clipper Benoit Benjamin, were 39-43.

Could mystery repeat itself?

After their 117-107 victory over the New York Knicks, the Lakers finished Tuesday night just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Clippers with a dozen games remaining.

The Lakers have two more home games than the Clippers, but they also play four more games against playoff teams, so anything could happen, and only one thing is certain.

The whole town should be cheering for the Clippers.

It would tell Clipper owner Donald Sterling that maybe he is doing things right.

More important, it would remind Laker owner Jerry Buss that he has done everything wrong.

“If something like that happens, I tell you what, Jerry Buss will make sure he never goes through another season like this one,” said Bill Fitch, the last coach to take a Clipper team to the playoffs, back in 1997. “To be the second team in their own building? He will pull every string to fix this. He’s probably kicking himself in the butt right now.”

Fitch, enjoying retirement outside Houston, chuckles like a guy who never thought he would see this again.

“No doubt, right now, the Clippers are playing better than the Lakers,” he said.

Better team, better future and -- honest to Jack -- a better buzz.

Sunday afternoon, during what was my last Laker game of the season as a fan, I experienced two firsts.

The four seats to my left were empty.

The big guy sitting two rows in front of me was asleep.

“Wake up, dude,” shouted another fan as he squeezed through the aisle behind him. “It’s the Lakers!”

Used to be, anyway.

On nights when the Lakers are at home, the darkest stretch in downtown Los Angeles is the Staples Center suites.

The most weathered stretch is the Laker Girls’ 10,456th career rendition of “Rolling on the River.”

The most stretched stretch is when Lawrence Tanter welcomes everyone to “the sports and entertainment center of the world!”

Wrong on both counts.

Jerry Buss must have stole that script from, um, Miami.

Nothing works here anymore, not even a good old-fashioned rip coming from Shaquille O’Neal’s locker.

It was Chucky Atkins doing the ripping this weekend, referring to Kobe Bryant as the team’s general manager, making two critical mistakes in the process.

First, Atkins handed out the wrong job.

Bryant is not the general manager, he is more like the coach. He scolds players during practice and sometimes makes them disappear during games, two skills that still need work.

Second, Atkins didn’t have the guts to back up his statements.

He claimed a day later that he was misquoted, even though several writers heard the exact same thing.

And if the Lakers still want him to be their starting point guard next year, they better figure out a way to get his name on the backbone transplant list, and quick.

The worst part of the Atkins incident occurred when he was introduced Tuesday night before the Knick game.

There were no boos. There were few cheers. There wasn’t much of anything.

Things are so boring here, Lakers fans no longer even care about the off-court drama, and when is the last time anyone could write that?

Atkins was subtly wrong in another way. When the story of this season is retold, Bryant will not be the biggest villain.

That will be Buss, who could rarely leave his box, and rarely does interviews, and it doesn’t change a thing.

Buss is the one who traded O’Neal in the biggest mistake by a sports executive since Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees nearly 90 years ago.

Buss is the one who allowed Phil Jackson to walk away in an ego debacle that overpowered even Eisner versus Ovitz.

Buss fell in love with himself as a basketball genius, fell in love with Bryant as a championship leader, fell in love with the wrong two guys.

Bryant may have wanted everything to happen, but Buss was the only one with the power to do it, and don’t ever forget it.

I spoke Tuesday to a season ticket-holder who won’t forget it.

The Lakers sent him an $160,000 bill for playoff tickets.

For the first time, when the season ends, he is going to ask for the money back instead of allowing it to roll over into next year’s tickets.

He said he could no longer trust Buss with his basketball team, why trust him with his money?

Hey, you can’t blame the Lakers for trying to earn interest during a season when they haven’t created any.

Go Clips.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Battle of L.A.

Since the Clippers moved to Los Angeles, they have finished with a better record than the Lakers twice.

*--* CLIPPERS LAKERS W-L Pct. Season W-L Pct. 28-54 341 2003-04 56-26 683 27-55 329 2002-03 50-32 610 39-43 476 2001-02 58-24 707 31-51 378 2000-01 56-26 683 15-67 183 1999-00 67-15 817 9-41 180 1998-99 31-19 620 17-65 207 1997-98 61-21 744 36-46 439 1996-97 56-26 683 29-53 354 1995-96 53-29 646 17-65 207 1994-95 48-34 585 27-55 329 1993-94 33-49 402 41-41 500 1992-93 39-43 476 45-37 549 1991-92 43-39 524 31-51 378 1990-91 58-24 707 30-52 366 1989-90 63-19 768 21-61 256 1988-89 57-25 695 17-65 207 1987-88 62-20 756 12-70 146 1986-87 65-17 793 32-50 390 1985-86 62-20 756 31-51 378 1984-85 62-20 756

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