I will open this by admitting once the bracket was set I, too, had the LA Clippers in the Western Conference Finals. I did think they would have trouble with the Dallas Mavericks and they had some. I did think that Murray and Jokic could score a lot of points against them and they did (in the second halves). But for whatever silly reason, I also had them coming out on top.
Frankly, a lot of people had the Clippers winning the entire Western Conference, not just the Denver series.
The Reaction
There’s some L’s in this house, there’s some L’s in house, there’s some L’s in this house #CyborgChoked #NeverKawhiTown #ClipppersGonnaClip ????? pic.twitter.com/jZHik3WAnc
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) September 16, 2020
Most folks spent the ensuing 24-hours clowning Clipper Nation. Not only did they go out earlier than expected, but they went out like that. Being up three games to one, up by double-digits in late in the second quarter of both Game 6 & 7, and to lose Game 7 by fifteen. After averaging 116 points per game this year, they went out scoring just 89.
And while we as NBA fans will praise the Denver Nuggets, the day has been rough for the LA Clippers. While they can say after the fact they weren’t in “championship or bust” mode, their social media interactions with the likes of Dame Lillard indicate they weren’t planning on heading home anytime soon.
Patrick Beverley taunting Dame after he misses both potential game-winning free throws pic.twitter.com/ZIUjVbQm6R
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) August 8, 2020
While we’ve all been having fun with the shock of this, perhaps it shouldn’t have been so surprising. Once, the NFL’s late Dennis Green, head coach of the Arizona Cardinals at the time, followed a narrow Monday Night Football loss to the Super Bowl bound Chicago Bears by saying “they are who they thought they were.”
Dennis was speaking about a football team he and his Cardinals had a chance to beat. But, perhaps, his speech can help NBA fans understand what just happened in Game 7. Perhaps the LA Clippers are who we thought they were.
Work with me here… let’s go through some of the more impactful LA Clippers and look at their backgrounds in the NBA.
Lou Williams
Ok, in starting with Lou Williams, we need to make one thing clear: there will be limited strip club food jokes. As much as Lou’s game stems from using Magic (City) to avoid defenders on the (chicken) wings of the defense, or how he’ll (lemon) pepper in a catch and shoot corner three (piece) whenever he’s asked (or ordered), Lou Williams has hit clutch regular-season shots (from the bar). Sweet (bbq) Lou is exceptionally smooth (and tangy) with the basketball, and his biggest issue is staying in the way of other players (and out of his own). Williams may have been longing for a home-cooked meal (which he orders from his favorite dancer), and thus easily distracted… but his impact on this series was never going to be his defense (of his actions).
Montrezl Harrel
“Trezz,” the 6’7” back up big man and recent recipient of 6th Man of the Year, makes up for what he lacks in height in wingspan, explosion, and energy.
But, y’know what he’s not known for? His perimeter defense. And y’know what Nikola “The Joker” Jokic is best at? Playing on the perimeter. In the last three games of the series, Trezz was -9, -19, and -8 respectively. And his -8 in Game 7? Only that bad because he scored his own 20 points. Jokic brought Trezz out from the paint, and it looked like “Monsta-Trezz” was gotten by the “Monsta-rs.” He was completely out of his element, couldn’t help protect the paint, and the Clippers struggled the 55 minutes he was in during the last three games
Patrick Beverley
Well… While Beverley has made a career being the annoying pest that never lets superstar guards get comfortable, the 32-year old is not the same guy anymore. To say it more eloquently…
Well said, Russ. Well said.
Paul “Playoff P” George
Look, it’s not that the playoffs aren’t filled with added pressure, or other stressors that play into their performance. Hitting a few speed bumps, or brick walls, in the playoffs happens.
But when you’ve dubbed yourself “Playoff P,” say you’re going to lock down the other team’s star rookie, and then can’t…
Playoff P: You’re writing this up for yourself. George has heard the jokes for the over two years since his comments about Donovan Mitchell in 2018, and the anxiety has only appeared to worsen. He has opened up about his mental health, and notes that he hears out jokes… Ranging from Pandemic P to any other lewd, explicit, or insensitive comment followed by a singular “P.”
So while we will leave jokes aside, you do have to know that he’s telling you that he struggles in the playoffs, even if most of Las Vegas picked him and the Clippers to win.
Doc Rivers
In the history of the NBA, there have now been thirteen times where a team has blown a 3-1 lead in a playoff series. No coach has ever had it happen to them more than once… Except Doc.
Doc has a strong coaching resume. He won a title in ‘08 with the Boston Celtics and forced a Game 7 in the NBA Finals in 2010 (and, let Kendrick Perkins tell it, they’d have won if Perk was healthy). N LA, he sparked Lob City, and helped the franchise navigate the Donald Sterling fiasco. Most recently, he was the first coach to ever take a team without any All-Stars to the playoffs in 2019, and then he pulled in two superstars to propel the franchise to the next level. And all of that adds up to a very nice resume… but that he has now lost a 3-1 series lead three times is a pattern.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times? How were we fooled this time?
Doc does so many of the relationship things a good coach does well well. But his record when up big in the NBA Finals indicates that, wel… It indicates that something is coming up short. And let’s face it: You’re up 3-1, and drop a game… You may not make any adjustments. You can probably convince yourself that they just wanted it more. You can probably say it was just letting your guard down.
But man, dropping Game 6? You need to make tactical adjustments. Clearly, your opponent figured something out. Even if it’s as simple as “they made shots and we didn’t,” adjusting includes taking away those opportunities.
And I’m not even saying Doc hasn’t tried any of that. I’m saying his teams haven’t done that. We had to know this was a possibility…
Kawhi Leonard
Ok, this one would have been blasphemous a year ago. A year ago, Kawhi had dethroned the Golden State Warriors, brought a title to The North, earned his second NBA Finals MVP, and changed the basketball landscape by forcing his way to the LA Clippers and forcing Paul George to join him. He was a basketball deity. He was in a class with LeBron, Durant, and even (gasp!) Michael Jordan.
But had Kawhi’s play really warranted that? In 2014, at 22-years old, Leonard won a NBA Finals MVP for beating LeBron James and the Miami heat. Though Leonard only averaged 17.8 points in the Finals, the talk was largely his defense on LeBron James… Defense that incited this reaction in the Finals the year before:
But, Kawhi’s role was really that of next star in San Antonio. Tim Duncan was the elder statesman, Tony Parker had his own Finals MVP, Manu Ginobili brought energy off the bench, and Greg Popovic used role players like Danny Green, Boris Diaw, and Tiago Splitter with incredible intention. Young Kawhi Leonard was a star, but he was hardly the only one in San Antonio. Winning the Finals in 2014, much like covering LeBron James, was a team effort.
Kawhi did grow into his stardom, but faced a major injury in the 2017 NBA Playoffs. After landing on Zaza Pauchullia’s foot, his time in San Antonio was never the same. The following season, Kawhi played just nine games (reasons are dependent on who is asked).
Then Kawhi landed in Toronto, where the Raptors had a team that had the best record in the Eastern Conference the year prior. He teamed up with fellow All Star Kyle Lowry, emerging Most Improved Player Pascal Siakam, and veteran experience in Serge Ibaka. Kawhi was on a contender, and the contender let him rest when he wanted… they had their eyes on the bigger prize. They’d been deep in the playoffs without him and ran into LeBron. But in 2019? LeBron was in LA. All things were lining up Raptors.
And- who could forget when it almost never happened. In Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, Kawhi Leonard hit one of the most memorable shots in recent memory. After dribbling the arch, he launched a three over Joel Embiid that bounced four times on the rim before dramatically falling through. Raps win, advance, win again, advance, win it all.
But what if that shot bounced just three times? Or a fifth time? How close was that to not falling through… Would Kawhi have earned the summer 2019 reputation he did?
“Ok ok ok Ainsworth, but they beat the Warriors with him!”
Yeah, they beat the Warriors in their fifth season of over 100 games a year, with Kevin Durant hurt, Klay Thompson hurt, and a Box-and-One on Steph Curry…where Kawhi was not the one defender.
And how good were his teammates? Without Kawhi, they got to a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals again this year… exactly where their season may have ended a year ago, without that bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy shot.
So while Kawhi is undeniably great… an alternative history timeline on his career isn’t that far-fetched. He’s a good player… but is he really in the LeBron James or Kevin Durant class? We’re talking about a bounce here, a couple of already great teams there, and this elite defender that seems to be in several of the right places. We have to have seen how close those accomplishments were to not happening.
***
Please note, none of that negates the accomplishments these guys did have. Lou Williams and Trezz Harrell are impactful bench players. Patrick Beverley can cause chaos on defense. Paul George is a good basketball player. Doc Rivers is an accomplished coach. And Kawhi Leonard does have a decorated resume at 29.
But an early exodus was always a greater possibility for these guys than was recognized. Aside from the talented basketball team Denver is, the Clippers had more flawed pieces than anyone cared to acknowledge. They were never some sure fire Western Conference Finals bound team, much less locked in for a title. The Clippers were bound to stumble, even if no one talked about it.
And the Clippers failures this season are not from some curse on the city, some campaign by the NBA, or even some failure inherent with the name on the front of their jersey. They guys in those jerseys are exactly who they were the whole time… and while that may not be who we collectively thought they were, that’s our fault- not theirs.
Follow me on Twitter @painsworth512 for more, and give our podcast “F” In Sports a listen wherever you listen to podcasts!
