“Absolutely didn’t see this one coming” is the phrase that jumps to mind.

The Clippers quit on this season months ago, and the idea that they could defeat the Boston Celtics, defending NBA champions anytime, anywhere seemed preposterous.

And then the final score came in: Clippers 93, Celtics 91. I almost fell out of my Eames chair. I made a point of watching SportsCenter just so I could see a few minutes of this extraordinary event, something as shocking and rare as a two-headed calf, and I even began watching a replay of the whole game on local cable before regaining my sanity.

Some links:

Here is the Boston Globe version of events. It seems remarkably calm about it all, which would seem to indicate that the author doesn’t quite appreciate just how horrible the Clippers have been.

It does include this one long quote from Doc Rivers, who had a better grasp on how difficult it was to lose to Mike Dunleavy’s team, even without Kevin Garnett and even at the end of a six-game road trip. And even while apparently distracted by the reckless notion of adding Stephon Marbury to the squad.
“We were awful,” Rivers said. “We absolutely did not deserve to win that game. I thought we played small all night. We pouted all night. We just thought we could just show up and win a game and we didn’t. We didn’t make the extra pass all night. We walked the ball up the floor all night. There were so many things we did poor. The fact that we actually had a chance was amazing.”

Oh, and did I mention? The Clippers’ starting lineup was Baron Davis, Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, rookie Eric Gordon (who got hurt midway through the game and never returned) and Mardy Collins (!).

And did we note that the Clippers entered the game with a 14-43 record? To Boston’s 46-12? Or that the Clippers were 6-25 since Dec. 20 with exactly one victory, during that stretch, over a team (Atlanta) with a winning record?

Here is the L.A. Time’ account of the game, and it conveys the proper sense of “what the hell?” that should be brought to the occasion.

So, yes, this Clippers team is about as wretched as any they have assembled, and Angelenos know just how perfectly wretched that can be, and here the Clippers defeat the Boston Celtics — in what may be the single least likely event of the NBA regular season.