LOS ANGELES - On a historic day for basketball in Los Angeles, the Clippers rose mightily to the occasion.  Shrugging off the distractions that felled them in Game 4, they played Game 5 with heart, fire, and a renewed sense of purpose. Let the record show that on April 28, 2014 A.S. – After Sterling – they began the most transformational era in their basketball lives with a 113-103 win over the Golden State Warriors, taking a 3-2 lead in a series they can close out Thursday in Oakland.

The record, however, only tells a fraction of the story.

A day that almost began with the unthinkable – the first-ever boycott of a playoff game in the history of any sport – ended with unbridled joy, the future for a once hapless franchise glowing like the sunrise over a limitless horizon. 

The worst owner in professional sports is gone. Only three months after succeeding David Stern as commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver met the defining moment of his tenure with steely resolve, imposing a lifetime ban on Donald Sterling for racist remarks he made about African-Americans, on audiotapes released by TMZ and Deadspin.  Silver fined Sterling $2.5 million, the maximum allowed under league rules, and promised to do everything in his power to force the embattled owner to sell the team he’s run for 33 years.

Silver said Sterling’s remarks were “contrary to the principles of inclusion and respect that form the foundation of our diverse, multicultural and multiethnic league.”

And while the story is far from over – the notoriously litigious Sterling told FOX News contributor Jim Gray that he has no intention of selling – a tidal wave of relief swept through the entire Clippers organization and fan base, culminating in a night-long celebration at Staples Center.

The Clippers got a standing ovation when they took the court for warmups, a reaction that nearly brought Chris Paul to tears and gave Jamaal Crawford chills. Many in the sellout crowd wore black shirts and armbands in solidarity; the players wore black socks.  Outside the arena, fans turned their Clippers jerseys inside out, in support of the Clippers’ pre-game protest on Sunday (the Clippers kept their regular jerseys on when they took the court for Game 5). All night long, the P.A. announcer exhorted fans in a “We Are One” chant that will doubtless become the unifying rallying cry for this franchise.

The Warriors didn’t have a chance.  “Loud And Proud”, the slogan that carried them to victory in Game 4, turned out to be no match for “We Are One.”   And DeAndre Jordan turned out to be no match for any Warrior who guarded him, leading the charge with a career-high 25 points, 18 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots.

It was a 180-reverse from Game 4, when Jordan took one shot, scored no points, and the Clippers crumbled under the weight of their emotional baggage in a 118-97 blowout.

“DeAndre texted me right after we got back to L.A. and said, ‘that wasn’t me, and that I will be back,” said Doc Rivers. “I didn’t know he meant THAT,” Rivers added, referring to Jordan’s dominant performance.

“My job is to play basketball,” said Jordan. “I felt like we like had lost focus in Game 4.  That wasn’t me; that wasn’t us.”

Tuesday started like no other in the league’s 68 year-history.  NBA Players Association Vice President Roger Mason had made it clear that players were willing to boycott playoff games if the NBA didn't take decisive action against Sterling.  But at 2:16pm in a press room in midtown Manhattan, Silver strode to the podium and effectively ended Sterling’s affiliation with the Clippers and the NBA, setting off a league-wide groundswell of support. 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called it a “new day” in Los Angeles sports.  Magic Johnson praised Silver for “great leadership”.  Chris Paul, president of the NBA Players Union, said, “It’s amazing the unity that our league has showed through this tough time; it’s a great day.  It was a burden lifted off of us; we could get back to playing basketball.”

For the Clippers, it was a cathartic end to the most tumultuous four days the franchise had ever endured.  Rivers had cancelled practice on Monday to give his players time to decompress.  By Tuesday, their focus had returned.  Rivers broke the news of Silver’s announcement to the team as they viewed a film session,  “and they went right back to watching film,” Rivers noted. Both locker rooms were closed to the media before the game, leaving the coaches to speak to the press in separate news conferences.

“Now we can move forward; we have to,” said a visibly drained Rivers.  “This is the start of the healing process.”

In answer to a question about whether the Sterling issue had become bigger than basketball, Mark Jackson gave an emphatic yes.  “The thoughts and ideas of Donald Sterling on that tape are not just his thoughts and ideas; there are successful people around this country running companies and businesses that have that same type of mentality,” said Jackson. “I’m proud to be a member of a society that takes the first step to chase these people out.” 

Then it was game time, and it was the Clippers who chased the Warriors all around the court.  They weren’t the dominant team that overwhelmed the Warriors by 40 in Game 2, or sprinted out to an 18-point lead in Game 3, but they came out with a pent-up fury.  After his first offensive play, Blake Griffin slammed the ball against the “We Are One” logo on the basket stanchion.  Minutes later, Jordan wrestled a rebound away from Draymond Green, throwing him to the floor as he put up a layup.  With center Jermaine O’Neal coming off the bench, no one seemed able to contain Jordan inside; he scored 10 points in the first quarter, most on thunderous dunks off Lob City passes. 

With the Warriors electing or unable to break free of a halfcourt game, the Clippers were able to contain Stephen Curry (17 points) and Klay Thompson (21 points) with swarming double-teams and a relentless trapping defense.  Even so, it took 8 fourth quarter points by Blake Griffin and some opportunistic defense to seal the deal; the Clippers using a 13-7 run to ice the game after the Warriors had crept to within three.   The signature play came when Griffin and Paul trapped Curry at midcourt, knocked the ball loose, and Griffin fed Crawford for a streaking layup that gave the Clippers a 101-92 lead with 3:48 left.  The crowd rose for a standing ovation.  It was the defining We Are One moment of the night.

After scoring 27 points off the fast break in Game 4, the Warriors tallied only 13 fast-break points in Game 5, an issue they will have to correct for Game 6: they can beat the Clippers by running them, but a halfcourt game favors the Clippers’ superior talent and bench strength – Crawford’s 19 points alone equaled the total scored by the Golden State bench.

But it may be asking a lot for the Clippers to maintain the same level of energy for a Game 6 in hostile territory.  This was a special night, the likes of which we may never see again in Los Angeles sports for a long time, and the Clippers may well have exhausted themselves embracing the challenge.

As Griffin said after the game, “Sometimes, the emotional energy of NOT thinking about something, it can tire you out.”