For those thinking that Kevin Garnett, or anyone else for that matter, might be suiting up for the Clippers Thursday as the NBA trade deadline passed, that ship sailed. Quietly.
The Clippers returned to Staples Center intact on Thursday night, ready to start their push to the playoffs over the final 26 games.
Coach Vinny Del Negro had a simple explanation for the Clippers not being involved in any deals, blockbuster or otherwise.
“Because there was no trade to be made. There was nothing there,” Del Negro said before the Clippers tipped off against San Antonio. “There were all these reports and all these talks and everything else. There’s things out there that you can’t even do under the collective bargaining (agreement) that aren’t even accurate. We’re always looking, like any organization, to make our team as strong as possible.
“We’re very comfortable, I’m excited about our opportunity.”
When the Clippers left off, they were showing off their full roster for the first time all season, with Chauncey Billups fully in the fold, Grant Hill ready to contribute consistently off the bench and, of course, Chris Paul’s bruised knee a thing of the past as he displayed in Sunday’s All-Star game.
So the Clippers that entered Thursday as the third-best team in the West is the group that has Del Negro curious to see what heights it can reach.
“”It’s the first time all season we’ve been healthy, hopefully we can stay there,” Del Negro said. “Chauncey is still on a minutes restriction, Chris is feeling a lot better. He had a great weekend, Blake (Griffin) played extremely well.
“We have to stay healthy and see what this team can achieve.”

By Phil Collin

Meanwhile, the chase resumes. The Clippers (39-17) likely can’t catch San Antonio (43-12) for the best record in the Western Conference, but they can turn some heads tonight at Staples Center by beating the Spurs.
Both teams have won four games in a row, but the Clippers have another concern: Memphis is only a game behind the Clippers in the loss column. Currently third in the West, the Clippers would probably like to avoid a second-round matchup with San Antonio that a fourth-place finish could produce.

http://tinyurl.com/Spurs-on-guard

By Phil Collin

Kevin Garnett arrived in L.A. as a Celtic and he’ll apparently stay that way. With his no-trade clause, he holds the final word on any deal, let alone one to the Clippers.

http://tinyurl.com/Clippers-or-no-trade
Boston came out of the All-Star break with two consecutive losses and swirling rumors over potential deals, but a sense of humor hasn’t been lost.
“All right, we’re going to trade them all now,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.

By Phil Collin

His game-by-game scoring totals were starting to look like the beginning of a phone number — 769-78 …

And then Chauncey Billups officially announced his return to the Clippers on Wednesday. Two 3-pointers in the first quarter, two more in the second and after the Clippers polished off Houston, Billups had 19 points on nine shots with no turnovers in 20 minutes.

As much as it might have been a luxury to have Billups has a player liaison on the bench as his Achilles’ tendon healed, taking his leadership to the court with that kind of production can only make the Clippers more dangerous.

In fact, starting alongside Chris Paul, it’s like the Clippers have two points guard and two off-guards on the floor at the same time.

“It takes pressure off everybody,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “He can get Chris off the ball a little bit, Chris can get more live dribbles. He makes great decisions, he spaces the court. He knows time and score.

“When he shoots like he did tonight, it gives us another weapon so it was great to see him out there. He didn’t turn the ball over in almost 21 minutes. He knows how to play, he’s been there, done that. It’s great to have him back.”

Billups was a game-time decision with a sore lower back, so whether he can return to the lineup tonight against the Lakers remains to be seen. He’s still working his way into game shape.

“I’m waking up muscles that haven’t worked in a long time,” Billups admitted afterward.

NEW YORK – Grant Hill was sitting on the bench, minding his own business, watching New York Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony going off on the Clippers just like everyone else at Madison Square Garden for most of Sunday afternoon.

Then Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro summoned Hill from the bench with 3:21 remaining in the third quarter – and with Anthony sitting on 38 points – and asked him to do something about it.

That’s a tall order for anyone, let alone a 40-year-old veteran like Hill, whose battled injury issues all year as he tries to establish a role with the Clippers.

Only Hill isn’t your regular 40-year-old, and as the Clippers discovered Sunday he still has enough savvy and guile to be a factor.

With Hill pulling out every trick in the book, he hounded, harassed and denied Anthony the remainder of the game. The result: Antony took just two more shots and scored only four more points as Hill and the Clippers got things under control in a 102-88 victory.

Afterward, his impressed teammates marveled at Hill’s contribution.

“I tell him all the time I will not be 40 years old and playing in this league,” Clippers guard Chris Paul said. “I wish I could but I can’t. And it just shows so much about Grant, just his heart and his determination and always staying ready.”

Hill understood the nearly impossible challenge of stopping Anthony, but he relied on past experiences and veteran guile to try and disrupt him as much as possible.

“You just try to do things to make it difficult and you have to have selective memory because he hits shots,” Hill said “You have to be able to move onto the next play. He’s a great player and I enjoy the challenge.”

It’s nothing unusual for Hill, whose spent his entire career typically drawing the opponent’s best scorer.

His teammates are well aware, having gone against him enough over the years to understand how many problems he creates. When Hill was in Phoenix he’d typically guard Paul. He did the same with Chauncey Billups as well.

“Steve Nash never guarded me. Grant Hill did,” Paul remembered, “And Chauncey told me when he was in Denver Grant did a great job on him.

“He’s just smart. He never rests. He’s just always bothering you and messing with you,” Paul continued. “He understands how you can’t give a guy – especially the best scorer in the league – a steady diet of the same defense.”

vincent.bonsignore@dailynews.com @DailyNewsVinny

By Vincent Bonsignore

MIAMI – Like it or not, Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe has 13 new coaches pulling him in all sorts of directions now that he’s been selected to participate in the Slam Dunk at the NBA All-Star game in Houston.

Bledsoe was officially added to the six-player field on Thursday night, and by Friday he pretty much heard from all 13 of his Clippers teammates, all of whom have some guidance on what he should do.

“Everybody’s trying to give me some advice,” Bledsoe said. “Everybody has some pretty good ideas so we’ll see how it goes.”

Some suggestions are better than others, of course.

For instance, one teammate suggested Bledsoe jump over Clipper Darrell, the team’s long-time, unofficial greatest fan.

That probably isn’t going to happen.

One player who won’t give much advice is Chauncey Billups, whose dunking days are pretty much behind him.

“I’ll leave that to the other guys,” Billups said, laughing. “But I’m interested in what he’s going to do.”

EVERYONE BACK, EVEN JAMAL CRAWFORD

By mid-day Friday it was becoming more clearer Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups and Blake Griffin would be cleared to play against the Heat, but there was still some concern Jamal Crawford would need more time to tend to his injured right shoulder.

By the time the team arrived at Miami’s American Airlines Arena, though, Crawford was feeling well enough to play after missing the last two games.

“The shoulder loosens up on him then it tightens up,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “He’s gonna give it a go tonight. I don’t know when he gets out there how he’ll feel, but he wants to get out there and play.”

The same was the case for Paul, Billups and Griffin as the Clippers finally had their entire roster together for the first time all year.

“There’s some limited minutes and restrictions (on guys) and we’re trying to figure it out because it’s a big list,” Del Negro said.

But the good news is, for one night at least everyone was available.

“Now we’ll just monitor it and see how it goes,” Del Negro said.

SO FAR SO GOOD ON NEW YORK

With the New York area getting hit with a major snow storm Friday and Saturday flights into the area being canceled, there was concern the Clippers game against the New York Knicks would be affected.

As of Friday, though, everything looked good on the Clippers end. They’ll travel to Newark, New Jersey Saturday, and seem hopeful the game will get it.

“Everything looks good,” Del Negro said.

TURIAF GETS HIS RING

Clippers forward Ronny Turiaf, who played with the Heat last year, was scheduled to get his 2012 NBA Championship ring during a pre-game ceremony.

“I’m happy for Ronny,” Billups said. “There was no greater feeling in my life than winning a championship.”

HEAT RUNNING A TEAMPATURE

A near team-wide flu bug ravaged the Miami Heat roster and nearly left them severely shorthanded Friday.

As it turns out, it was bad but not devastating.

While Ray Allen and Chris Bosh were sidelined, Dwyane Wade was able to play.

All three missed the Heat morning shoot around, and only Wade was able to feel good enough to suit up.

Vincent.bonsignore@DailyNews.com twitter.com@DailyNewsVinny