My Thoughts On The LA Clippers
[Sigh] What more can you say? All those picks for PG. 6th Man of the Year. Best Player in the League. Everything. And they lost like that. The way they lost hurts more. And now they have to watch the Finals from Los Angeles, the basement of Staples Center, where they belong. Here are my thoughts on the LA Clippers.
[Sigh] What more can you say? All those picks for PG. 6th Man of the Year. Best Player in the League. Everything. And they lost like that. The way they lost hurts more. And now they have to watch the Finals from Los Angeles, the basement of Staples Center, where they belong. Here are my thoughts on the LA Clippers.
After the Clippers made all their moves, it seemed like they were destined for a title. I picked them because of their supposed “stars” and a “great coach.” They were one of the favorites. It was supposed to end differently. But it didn’t. And I don’t know why we all didn’t see it.
The main problem I saw all season long with the Clippers was their energy and cockyness. Sometimes they just mailed it in and expected results. This is a pretty big problem, but I expected it be fixed during the playoffs, when it really mattered. I was wrong. During their first round series against Luka and the Mavs, it showed.
The Clippers made hardly any adjustments and let Luka cook. The series should have been 4-5 games, but it was 6. Game 4 was the perfect depiction of it. Without Porzingis, the Clippers allowed Luka to cook instead of focusing on him on offense. He had 40+ points and the game-winner. An easy win for LA to take advantage during the series, but they allowed the Mavs to stay in it.
Nonetheless, the Clippers won in 6 games and advanced to the 2nd round. They faced a far inferior Nuggets team. Sure they had an advantage with Jokic, but other than that the Clippers were better in every way. All they had to do was contain Murray and hope to slow down Jokic.
And the Clippers came out strong in the series and took a 3-1 series lead. Their offense and defense were clicking, and they looked unstoppable. The series was supposed to be over. Everybody knew it was over. Including the Clippers, unfortunately. Usually when a team goes up 3-1, they tend to relax. Their is a drop in play. But they still win the series 99.99% of the time. And sometimes, very rarely, the other team wins. But that wouldn’t happen, right?
The Clippers led by 16 in the 3rd quarter of Game 5. The game was over, and so was the series. But the Clippers thought that too. They thought it was over. And they let the Nuggets comeback and win that game. Disappointing, but onto Game 6. Game 6, the Clippers led 19. In the 3rd quarter. Another give-me win. The Clippers win the series in 6 games and face the Lakers in the WCF. Let’s go. Oh, wait. You lost? Really? Again? Man. The Clippers blew it again, and now they had to face the Nuggets, again. Now it was looking scary.
But the Clippers seemed relaxed, and didn’t seem to notice that it was Game 7. Again, a little concerning. The Clippers led by 12 in the 1st half, but couldn’t shake Denver. The game was close, when it shouldn’t have been. And then, the Clippers collapse happened. And it was ugly, to say the least. The Clippers scored just 33 points in the 2nd half as Kawhi and George seemed to have lost all their talent as halftime. The Clippers lost, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Aside from the Clippers losing in the 2nd round, when they should have been hoisting the trophy in September-October, is sad, don’t get me wrong. But take a step back and look at it like this.
The Clippers have up 100000 first round picks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who will be an All-Star one day. Danilo Gallinari, another decent scorer. All of that for Paul George. Now granted, George was coming off of the best season of his career. He was a top-5 player in the league. It seemed worth it. Teamed up with the new best player in the league, Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers seemed unstoppable. With two All-Stars, plus Williams and Harrell off the bench, and you had a title contender.
Add in Marcus Morris at the deadline, and the Clippers are full stacked. And that was the problem. The Clippers knew they had the best roster in the league, and yet they never took advantage. Paul George was not the same scorer that he was a year ago in OKC and seemed to have regressed in his new, much easier role as the 2nd option.
But I think that you can blame Kawhi, George, Morris, Harrell, and Lou Williams all out want. They deserve it, but it starts off with Doc Rivers and that coaching staff. Similar to Coach Bud in Milwaukee, Doc Rivers is considered one of the best coaches of this generation. He won a title in ’08 with Boston. He is consistently in the playoffs. He was the perfect coach for this team, right? Wrong.
Like Coach Bud, we saw the real Doc Rivers. The real Doc Rivers, who is a bad coach. The Clippers offense isn’t a offense. It’s street ball. It’s here Kawhi you’re good go score. It’s hey PG, you’re pretty good, score. There is no system, no movement, no nothing. It’s just, you’re a scorer, score. Nothing else. And that is why they lost. Because when teams don’t have to move, and an just concentrate 1v1, it becomes easier. And that’s why the Clippers struggled offensively against Denver during the back-end of the series. It’s because they had no offense.
Secondly, their defense was terrible. The Clippers have some of the best defenders in the league. And again, they know it. They know that, but they seem to handicap themselves with arrogance. And when they face a team like Denver, who has he best center in the league, they panic. And just by watching Game 7, you can tell how bad the Clippers defense is. Every-time Jokic touches the ball down low, they double. But he can see the double from a mile away and prepare for a great pass to an open teammate. No surprises, he can see it all happening in front of him.
Instead of letting Jokic eat and limit the other scorer who you can hope to contain, Jamal Murray, the Clippers wasted their time trying to guard the best center in the league. And while Jokic tore them up, Jamal Murray gave them 40 for good measure in Game 7. Doc Rivers made it easy for Denver, and combine that with their “offense,” and the Clippers got what was coming to them.
So, what’s next? After this, the Clippers have to make moves, and fast. But what do they do? Lou Williams is 33 years old, and he might not be the same Lou Williams anymore. Harrell, George, and Kawhi are relatively young, but this clearly didn’t work. So the Clippers have to change. For starters, they have to fire Doc Rivers. He mismanaged this series so badly, but he will likely not get fired. Because management will adjust the roster, not the coaches. Like Coach Bud, Rivers will get to keep his job. Marcus Morris and Harrell are free agents, and they will be highly coveted. You will need to bring them both back. The Clippers need front-court depth to contend. They don’t have a great defending big guy. Jokic killed them, Anthony Davis, Kristaps Porzingis, Giannis, all of these guys kill the Clippers. Because nobody can guard them. Look for the Clippers to make a move for big guy that can actually defend this off-season.
So, there it is. It pains me to right this because I picked the Clippers to win it all this year. But it was clear for the start that they were pretenders not contenders. Doc Rivers never ran an offense, more of here is the ball now score. Paul George is not cut-out for this role and is far too over-rated. The Clippers have all that up for him, and they get this. Kawhi Leonard was disappointing in Game 7, but great the rest of the playoffs before. Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell were terrible in the bubble, and without their offense, they were useless. Doc Rivers mismanaged this series, and team. But nothing will change, likely. Because the Clippers likely won’t care. And that is their problem.
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