Shortly after the La Clippers season broke down in spectacular fashion, coach Doc Rivers said the team could point the finger at him for failing to meet its enormous championship expectations.
After the Clippers dropped to the Denver Nuggets 104-89 in the 7th of the Western Conference semifinal game at Vista, Lake Buena, Florida, for the third straight game, Rivers said title expectations for his team weren’t too high, though the Clippers fell short. That will be the West Finals showdown all season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“We haven’t met them,” Rivers said of expectations. “That’s the bottom line. I’m the coach and I can’t take any blame for that. But we didn’t live up to our expectations, obviously, because if we have, in my opinion, we’ll still play.”
The Clippers took a 1-1 lead in the seven-best series in epic fashion. They have lost a double-end lead of 16, 19 and 12 points respectively in the last three games as the franchise’s Western Conference Final drought reaches 50 years.
Rivers is the only coach in NBA history to have lost a 3-1 lead in three playoff series, with the Clippers at the 2015 West Indies against the Houston Rockets and with the Orlando Magic in the first round against the Detroit Pistons in 2003. .
The team, considered a contender for the championship, has since signed with the Leopard Poet Leonard in a non-agency fee agency and traded for George L. George.
“We missed,” said Lou Williams, who struggled and ran 4-27-ahead ahead of the arc in the series. “Simple and plain, we’re fed up. We landed up-1. We had two chances to win this series, and we didn’t get it.”
Williams added: “I think a lot of the issues we started with, the talent left us. Chemistry wasn’t like that. In this series, it failed us.”
Leonard, a two-time NBA Finals MVP who led the Toronto Raptors to the championship before signing with LA in free agency, said the Clippers would have to improve their basketball IQ and develop chemistry like the championship teams after their fall.
“We just couldn’t make any shots,” said Leonard, who shot for 11-1 in the second half. “When it comes to team chemistry, knowing what we should run to get the ball in the spots or someone is being doubled or they are packing paint, try making shots at the other person, and we should know which places We need to be.
“And you know, just have to move forward as a team and get smarter. Get smarter. Basketball IQ got better.”
In the biggest game of the season, Leonard and George shot 10-for-38, including a 4-for-18 ahead of the arc, for a total of 24 points in Game-7. In the third straight game, the Clippers appeared completely paralyzed, and the Nuggets knocked them out 50-28 in the final 22 minutes, 50 seconds.
“I’ve never been comfortable. I just haven’t been,” Rivers said of the Clippers’ 3-1 series lead. “I just knew in terms of conditioning, like, we had guys who just couldn’t play for minutes, and it’s hard, I mean, two or three times a night came where we really started to go, And one guy had to come out. I mean he’s that. So no, I’ve never been comfortable. I can tell you that further. I told our coach that. “
It’s been an all-season struggle to find chemistry for the Clippers. Leonard and George were slowly recovering from injuries during the season. It was boring to combine the two stars with last season’s retiring groups, who did amazing activities. Also, the Clippers deal with constant interruptions ranging from injuries to mid-season additions. Once they began to show signs of coming together, the coronavirus epidemic struck, and the season stalled for four-plus months.
Not long after the season reached the bubble to resume, life found its way, and the Clippers were interrupted by Montreal Herrell, Williams and Patrick Beverly, all having to go to a funeral for loved ones. Each missed three key role players, as they were away from the bubble and had to be kept separate. Harrell was on the floor for a month.
“We faced a lot of adversity,” said George, who made 1-for-7 in the second half on Tuesday. “Exactly so. You know, for the right reason the guys had to go home. We lost a lot of time together in the regular season and with injuries inside the bubble.”
George said the organization has talked about how the Clippers are built to fight for more than this season. But it will take some time for the team to lose and get the latest stain on heartbreak-filled franchise history.
“There was a clear pressure to live up to the title’s expectations,” George said. “But as a player, I mean you want it. … It’s not a coup-out. The fact of the matter is, we didn’t live up to that expectation.
“But I think, internally, we’ve always felt that it’s not a championship-or-bust year for us. You know, the more we stay together and the more we stay around each other, the better. For more chemistry.” [the] Group, the better. I think that’s really the story of this season’s tape. We don’t have enough time together. “
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