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The Los Angeles Clippers are now finished for the season after blowing a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference semifinals to the Houston Rockets, losing the series 4-3 in front of a raucous crowd in Houston on Sunday.
No one was expecting this, especially after the Clippers defeated the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in epic fashion in a Game 7 victory. When the Clippers jumped out to a 3-1 lead in this series against the Rockets, everybody thought it was over. The Clippers looked like a championship-contending team playing their best basketball at the right time of the year, and the Rockets appeared as though they were ready to fall apart, especially after an awful Game 4 performance.
But the Rockets shocked everyone, storming back for three blowout victories in a row over the Clippers, sending them to a very early summer vacation.
There will be some that say that the Clippers got cocky against the Rockets, or that beating the Spurs in the first round was, in some ways, an equivalent accomplishment to winning a championship for them.
I disagree.
The Rockets simply played better down the stretch. They got more and more confident with every three they hit, especially the vastly underrated Corey Brewer, who flat-out tormented the Clippers during the final games of this series. The Clippers’ lack of depth hurt them considerably, as the Rockets’ role players stepped up and produced, while the Clippers relied too much on their “Big Three” to carry them all the way.
With all of that said, there will be many fans and members of the media that claim the Clippers have to “blow it up” after this series. It is a typical knee-jerk reaction we see all the time whenever a team with high expectations fails to live up to the hype. We live in a very over-reactionary sports environment that wants results immediately, pushing patience to the side more often than not.
There were many that said the Spurs should try to convince Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili to retire in an effort to rebuild the team after they lost the 2013 NBA Finals to the Miami Heat. However, the Spurs trusted their team chemistry, and opted to use that crushing defeat as a momentum builder for the following year. And they were right, as they came back the following season to win their fifth title in franchise history.
Chemistry is ridiculously under-appreciated in sports. Let’s face it — big, sexy trades are more appealing and headline-grabbing topics to talk about instead of looking at a team that did not win a title and saying, “You know what — they should just keep that squad together.”
So yes, I believe the Clippers should keep Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. And they should pay DeAndre Jordan whatever he wants this offseason as he enters free agency as long as there is a condition somewhere in his contract that he must practice free throws for at least two days a week. The impact he has on the defensive side of the floor is something they cannot lose. They should not blow this team up and trade their stars away, because that would be extremely foolish.
I do think they should improve their bench drastically. Jamal Crawford was on an island for most of the season as the only real contributor off the bench for them. They should try to keep Austin Rivers, who showed flashes of promise, but consider going for a sizable upgrade over the Hedo Turkoglu/Glen Davis/Spencer Hawes big man bench trio.
Many will say that the Clippers are done and that Paul always chokes, which could not be farther from the truth. They have the stars to go all the way, they just need a better supporting cast to help them. And with the NBA salary cap projected to go up soon, expect them to make some crucial moves this offseason.
This was not the exit we were anticipating, but the Clippers will be back next year. And you can bet they will be playing angry for most of next year as they attempt again to reach not just the Western Conference Finals, but the NBA Finals as well.
Dan Schultz is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.
