DESPITE SMALL CROWDS, DECAYING FACILITY, CLIPPERS ENTRENCHED

     Friday is the Clippers' deadline for exercising an option on
their lease at the L.A. Sports Arena that would allow them to
play elsewhere next season, but Mark Heisler reports, "They won't
-- but they should."  Heisler reports team sources say "every top
Clipper official favors a move to the Pond except the only one
with a vote -- Owner Donald T. Sterling."  Former club officials
tell the L.A. TIMES that the team's "one hope" was to "get a new
arena on the drawing board before the Lakers, to beat them to the
corporate box money."  However, Heisler notes the Lakers and
Kings will likely announce plans for a new facility this summer,
leaving the Clippers "nowhere" (L.A. TIMES, 2/25).