Donald and Shelly Sterling -- Finally Divorcing

Donald Sterling pulled the trigger -- doing what Shelly Sterling wouldn't -- filing to divorce his longtime spouse.

The former Clippers owner filed the docs in Los Angeles Superior Court ... about 2 weeks before the couple would have celebrated their 60th anniversary -- although it's debatable if there would have been any celebration at all.

As we've reported ... Shelly had actually prepared divorce docs last year -- she even signed the papers, but changed her mind at the last minute. That, of course, came on the heels of TMZ Sports breaking the story about Donald's racist recorded conversation with his alleged mistress V. Stiviano.