Clippers owner Donald Sterling said before the team’s Monday night game against the New Orleans Hornets that he hasn’t given any thought to making a coaching change.

And he sees no reason why Vinny Del Negro won’t be the team’s coach for the remainder of the season.

“I like him,” said Sterling. “I usually follow the advice of my people, and I think they care for him, like him and want him to succeed. And I think he will.”

An Internet report that suggested Del Negro “has lost the team” and players no longer “want to play hard for him” sparked speculation the coach was another loss or two from being fired.

“I don’t know where all these stories are coming from; nobody talked to me,” (Clippers GM Neil) Sterling said. “Everything is good.

“I see absolutely no reason why there would be a coaching change based on where the guys are now,” Olshey said. “I think everybody built us up into something because we got out to such a great start and the minute we didn’t live up to it for a short period of time everyone wanted to act like the Apocalypse was upon us.”

via T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times