Timing Is Just Right to Streak Into the East

MIAMI —  The season’s longest trip begins tonight against the Miami Heat in American Airlines Arena, and the Clippers said it comes at a good time for them.

They’ve won a season-high five consecutive games, routed the Denver Nuggets by 33 points in Saturday’s victory in Staples Center and at 25-16 have matched the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves for the best start in franchise history through 41 games.

After a 3-9 stretch, the Clippers have won eight of 10, bolstering their confidence as they open a six-game, 11-day Eastern trip.

“Definitely, we feel good about the way we’re playing,” power forward Elton Brand said. “We’ve been doing a lot of good things, and we did a good job of defending our home court [before the trip], which is what we wanted to do.

“We knew it was going to be important because we’re going out on the road for a while, but we’ve been playing better on the road. We expect to play well on the road.”

With a 9-9 road record, the Clippers need one victory to match last season’s total.

In their last two road games, the Clippers overcame a 19-point deficit late in the third quarter of a victory against the Golden State Warriors and delivered their best road performance of the season in Friday’s blowout of Denver in the Pepsi Center.

“We’ve been coming in with the mind-set that we just want to compete,” point guard Sam Cassell said. “That’s what we’ve done the last few games, we just want to give ourselves a chance to win ballgames down the stretch, and we’ve done that these last few games.”

The Clippers have grown together and improved in the last 10 games, players said.

“It just feels so good to see guys developing and doing the things we have to do to win these games,” swingman Cuttino Mobley said. “The main thing is that we’ve been playing team basketball.

“We’re making the extra passes, finding guys for good looks and helping on defense. You can see it, and you can see the results.”

TONIGHT

at Miami Heat, 4:30 PST, FSN West 2

Site -- American Airlines Arena.

Radio -- 1150.

Records -- Clippers 25-16, Heat 27-18.

Record vs. Heat -- 1-0.

Update -- The Clippers defeated the Heat, 99-89, Dec. 5 in Staples Center, but Miami center Shaquille O’Neal sat out because of an injury. O’Neal had 24 points and 14 rebounds in the Heat’s 101-95 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday.