There's been a request for a Clippers celebration on this site - which I endorse wholeheartedly. Who can't appreciate the heights this year's team has achieved - with perhaps more to come.

The Clippers, by the way, are undefeated in games in which I covered them: 1-0. As usual, Bob Timmermann was kind enough to track down my Daily News game story from January 15, 1991. Call it a Not-So-Random Clipper Game Callback:

Clippers, Norman Work Overtime to Beat Rockets

by Jon Weisman

Ken Norman, living if melancholy proof that not every goat is a loser, sat quietly as a pack of reporters rushed up to him and asked him ...

Nothing.

"Everybody's scared to talk," Norman commented.

Not scared, really. Just kind of unsure of things.

Here sat a man that had blown it in the clutch, missing two free throws with 0.2 seconds left in regulation, but who still ended up being the main contributor to an even more dramatic, rousing, 130-126 victory by the Clippers over the Akeem-Olajuwonless Houston Rockets in overtime at the Sports Arena.

OK, Ken. Capture that feeling in a sentence.

"It was a wild and crazy win," Norman said, but with all the enthusiasm of a clown the day Bozo was canceled.

Norman, who scored a team-high 31 points, sure seemed to have trouble enjoying the Clippers victory, but he shouldn't remain sad for long.

After all, no one else on the Clippers seemed to mind.

"Whether you win in regulation or in overtime, it's still a win," said the Clippers' Mr. Bottom Line, center Benoit Benjamin (14 points, 19 rebounds).

Besides, Norman managed to give general manager Elgin Baylor a thrill. People who are in the NBA Hall of Fame aren't usually prone to say, "Wow."

"The teams had so many opportunities to win," Baylor said. "(In that respect), it was the wildest game I've ever witnessed."

Now that's something.

Neither team led by more than six points in the second half, and Norman seemed far, far away from goat's horns when he hit a 19-footer with 6.5 seconds remaining to give the Clippers (13-24) a 112-109 lead.

Then Houston's David Wood, a second-year pro from Nevada-Reno, somehow made a three-pointer with 1.4 seconds remaining (despite falling on his rear end in the process) to tie the game.

After a timeout, Danny Manning lobbed to Norman near the basket. Norman was fouled by Buck Johnson with :00.2 showing on the clock and 112-112 on the scoreboard.

"I was real confident," said Norman, a 67.1-percent foul-shooter this season. "Maybe I was overconfident going to the line, but I've been shooting fouls real well the last couple of weeks.

"But the first one hit the front of the rim and the second one hit the back."

You can imagine that the groan that followed from the 11,636 in attendance. Some of them seemed to have been conscious that there is some kind of history of Clippers misfortune.

For their part, the Clippers regrouped.

"Everybody patted (Norman) on the head and said we're still going to win the game," Clippers coach Mike Schuler said.

Hey, a little precognition never hurt anybody. Charles Smith (22 points) gave the Clippers the lead for good, 116-114, with a basket in the first minute of overtime.

Winston Garland was 6 of 6 on free throws in the final minute to preserve the victory. Norman himself was 3 of 3 from the line and scored five points in overtime.

Houston (19-17) lost its fourth game out of six playing without NBA-leading rebounder Olajuwon, who had surgery Monday to repair a blowout fracture near his right eye.

The surgery - a two-by-one inch Teflon plate was put into place and the retina was checked - was successful, but Olajuwon still won't return to practice for another eight weeks.

That and a heartbreaking loss wasn't making life very pleasant for Rockets coach Don Chaney.

"In my heart, we won the game," Chaney said. "A break here or there, a shot here or there. ...

Not this night. Even when Ken Norman wasn't getting the breaks, the Clippers were.

Notes: Clippers guard Jay Edwards, who has been on the NBA's suspended list since failing a rookie drug test March 3, has started practicing again with the Clippers. He will be evaluated by the staff for the next two weeks; a decision is due by Jan. 27 on whether he will remain with the team. "It felt good (to practice)," Edwards said. "A big weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I was in better shape than I thought I was. I can't even think about that (his chances of making the team). I have just got to go out and play hard. If things don't work out, I'll try to pick it up somewhere else ... Vernon Maxwell led the Rockets with 34 points. ... Benoit Benjamin had 19 rebounds after averaging 15.6 on the Clippers' recent seven-game road-trip.