All year long, we heard about how good the Los Angeles Clippers would be; some said they could be one of the best defensive teams ever, some even mentioned the defense could be as good as the 1996 Chicago Bulls LOL. Others said, Los Angeles had the best two-wing defenders since Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. More importantly, they talked about how many dogs the Clippers had and how they were built to beat the Lakers.
They never made it to play the Lakers in the Western Conference finals after blowing a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets. Also, blowing double-digit leads in three straight games. The Clippers will try to say their struggles and inability to close stems from a lack of chemistry, but they were not saying that when they were winning.
The Nuggets had an inside force in Nikola Jokic that the Clippers could not handle. Not to mention, Jamal Murray exploded for 40 points in Game 7 to help Denver complete another 3-1 series comeback.
In an elimination game, Leonard struggled going six for 22 with 14 points and Playoff P, who played more like Pandemic P, shot four for 16 with 10 points. But we all knew George would struggle in an elimination game, that’s what he always does. He did the Lakers a favor by not coming there a few years ago.
I think the Nuggets broke the Clippers down by realizing they only have two leading scorers: the rest are just spot-up shooters and get baskets on offensive rebounds and loose balls. Lou Williams had a tough series, Montrezl Harrell had a good game with 20 points, but was nowhere to be found in the other games. Clippers had no legit point guard who could get players shots in their sweet spots. They had their main dog Patrick Bevererly out there running the point, but he just out there running around flopping everywhere. This goes to show you can have all the dogs you want, but you got to play. Maybe next year, Clippers.