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Mark Lennihan / Associated Press
Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer explained why it was necessary for the team to leave Doc Rivers after the postseason exit.
“I don’t think we played our best basketball most of the time we were in the bubble. The way we ended our season really disappointed me,” Ballmer said Wednesday. Mark Medina of USA Today. “My personality is about winning.”
The Clippers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs after losing a 3-1 lead against the Denver Nuggets.
Rivers was fired after the season and was replaced by Tyronn Lue, who was a team assistant during the 2019-20 season.
Lue had previously won a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers, reaching the NBA Finals in three consecutive seasons.
Ballmer hopes Lue’s experience and a shift in focus will be enough for the Clippers to meet expectations in 2020-21.
Los Angeles was considered one of the favorites to win the NBA title this season after adding Paul George and current NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard last summer. The team had ups and downs during the regular season, but still managed to secure second place in the Western Conference.
However, things fell apart in the postseason, when the Clippers needed six games to beat Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in the first round before falling to the Nuggets in the conference semifinals.
There are still high expectations for next year, and the Clippers franchise will look to reach its first conference final while Leonard and George are on the same page.
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