Clippers vs Rockets - What REALLY Happened - Maybe!

Rational men and women would wonder how a sports team, which the Vegas Odds makers installed as favorites (when we were up 3-1) to win this year's NBA Championship, could flame out so ignominiously.

Everyone here has theories. It is the coach. (Hindsight, yes, would have dictated Hack-A-Dwight when we were up nineteen; this is immaterial.) Some CTBer's, with good logic, feel that the J-Team, JJ and Jamal, blew it. I was of this ilk. Other said we have no "superstar closer" when the endgame nears. Close, but no cigar.

All one has to do is look at Phil Jackson's last ride with the Lakers for a clue as to what REALLY happened. Phil, like a great jockey, was a Master at having his teams peak at just the right time. And this resulted in eleven rings. (Yes, the teams were great. But they always peaked in the playoffs.)

In his last season, he went to the whip and the Lakers went 17-1 towards the season's end. Just like the Clippers, they became the prohibitive favorites. Except for one little thing. They ran out of gas after the 17-1. Had Phil waited to go for broke, that 17-1 streak would have been coincident with the playoffs. And likely another title run. This with a very similar team to the previous one which won the chip, a team that properly peaked in the post season.

Before we get to the Clippers, let's look at Atlanta. They peaked way, way, way too early. Obviously, their coach had no idea what they were capable of and could not time their incredible win streak to happen at playoff time.

Now my Clipper opinion. We were invincible just prior to the playoffs. Nevertheless, we peaked, like the other teams I mentioned, too soon. Our literal peak was likely Game Seven vs. San Antonio. It was, even with a few wins, all downhill from there. Unfortunately, just as we were dipping, Houston started peaking. (Luck always plays into life results.) Bad timing.

As to why we peaked three games too soon, there could be any number of factors. Jamal and CP3 injuries could contribute. Coaching could add into the equation. Or peaking might simply have to do with team biorhythms and there is little you can do about it. That is why great teams always have losing streaks; the key is to confine them to the regular season. (Ask the Yankees who blew four games in a row to the Red Sox a number of years ago.)

These things are hard to figure.

But I am coming to the conclusion that playing the blame game when you are dealing with elite teams -- which I am guilty of -- is not the way to go.

It is much more cosmic than that.

If you accept my hypothesis, you will find accepting the outcome to be much easier. Once the peaking die was cast, there was nothing anyone could have done about it.

What happened? We are the Clippers. That's what happened We had a 99% chance of winning As usual we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, This is probably the works PO choke in the history of the NBA. I don't mean blowout I mean choke.. Is Korlov available?

Maye we were tired.

It may have been a cosmic confluence of events like you suggested for the Clippers' monumental collapse, but I think it's more of a banal reason in a brutal world --- $hit happens. Doc said that the team wanted it so much that they got in their own way of getting there. The process of "getting there" is hard as we all know too well, like two steps forward, one step back, but at least we know that the Clippers are heading in the right direction as a team and as an organization.

I think the Clippers peaked at just the right time as evidenced by how they were mentally and emotionally prepared to take on the defending champs in the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, in the next round, $hit happened. Clips stepped off the gas after being up 3-1, got complacent, lost focus, and under-estimated their opponent's resolve. Houston found their confidence back after the Clippers' gifted them a chance and then their role players, unlike ours, took advantage and finished the damage.

If there was a cosmic shift, perhaps it was all due to Murphy's Law --- man, what could go wrong, did go wrong. Turnovers, ice-cold shooters, indecisions, poor execution, flawed and inconsistent bench, Matt's shoulder injury, hot-potato basketball. You name it, Murphy covered it.

Whatever the reason for our team to flame out in such an abominable way, it's going to take some time to fully get over the disappointment. So close and yet so far.

Nice post baadmaster. blake's rope a dope kept him from flaming out early But cp3, barnes and jamal hit the physical wall. clips need to learn how to pace themselves, remember how the shaq lakers used to dog it the first half just keep up with the other team then turn it on in the third quarter and pull away. clips need to learn rope a dope as a team. To do so they need to have the steadiness and confidence of a championship team. they will get there. we are close, just needed to keep working and believe. my only wish is to get danny ferry or another talented GM.

really, how many black presidents are there in the nba? Ferry would be redemption story for the nba. And doc loves redemption stories. Doc understands forgiveness. Balmer understands a Winner. Balmer will get a quality GM.

Fair enough. Fact is, we were right where we want to be in game 6. We had Houston with their backs against the wall and Josh Smith jacking up 3s. The problem, Smith hit 2 to 4 3's on their comeback run, 2 more in game 7 while we were coming back. If I'm the Clippers, I'm happy with Smith jacking up those shots. We lost because Smith managed to find his shot at the right time. If he misses 2/3 like his career average suggests, that's 6 points off their comeback run, we're no longer back peddling, Houston's no longer feeling too good about themselves and we win in 6. It happens...

Every player in the NBA was a star in college. Each and every one of them has a "career game" inside them. The stars have those games almost every time they play; the lesser players have a hot game only occasionally. Look at Austin Rivers. Judging by a couple of games you would think he was an All-Star. Nope. That was an once-in-a-while event.

Same with Josh Smith. Nine games out of ten he bricks those threes; we win. But he peaked -- one could check his biorhythm chart -- at just the wrong time fr the Clippers.

Maybe -- and hindsight is twenty-fifteen -- Doc should have rested our players towards the end of the regular season so they would have peaked a little later. Just fourteen minutes later as luck would have it. Then they might have had the energy to stop that Josh Smith from destroying us.

They probably did peak too soon. But a bench would'a helped slow the crumble. Just no killer instinct.

After game 4, JJ and Jamal remembered that they had reservations with Nick van Exel in Cancun.

Peaking had nothing to do with it. They fell apart. This is a team that's famous for keeping their opponent's score to a minimum. 119 points? http://www.landofbasketball.com/results_by_team/2014_2015_clippers.htm If this were boxing I'd say it was fixed (I don't think so) This team didn't have the ability to suck it up when their whole season was on the line. The Rockets had given up. A team that allows a 40 point turn around didn't belong in the PO's They played absolutely no defense at all. Once Hou had won that game the 219 meant nothing. We didn't have it. We were going to lose. For eight minutes a good college team could have held on. We should get rid of as many as possible who played in that game. I don't care why they did it "Why "didn't do it, "Who" did it I don't want it to happen again. If this team did it once they could repeat. They could have swept the Rockets but in one game they looked like they were sleepwalking. It wasn't only game six. Kenny was asked after 3-1 if we would close it ut. He laughed and said No. This is a team that beat the Spurs. This is was- the only team that could beat GSW I do so enjoy killing sacred cows. The more Mercedes Benz cars in a country the higher the colon cancer rate. This is obviously a statistical correlation, not a statement of cause and effect. Last year we had one of the worst chokes in my memory. CP fouled Westbrook and there was something about him trying to draw a foul and screwing up but I don't remember what. This cost us a series victory, That and the BS excuse called the Sterling mess. This year his team committed....

The best part, we are all acting as though this has never happened before.

It really comes down to lack of heart and wanting it. This core needs to be shaken up. I know everyone says it takes time to learn how to win in the playoffs, but at the end of the day you just have to go out and do it. Look at the Warriors, it only took them 3 years to break through. **** our team and our mentality of excuses.

We're constantly talking about our players, yet Doc helms the ship and if he accepts their level of playing its on the leader. Coaches like Pop and McHale made adjustments on Paul, BG and CP3, during this series. Doc on the other hand had to response, nothing to counter was out coached on several levels. Players can't enter a series and decide how they will play, lackadaisical and without effort is unacceptable in a coaching scenario. Pop will pull his starters and sit them, however, he has a bench that can score again that's on Doc.

I would have kept the core together. The core is not the problem. It's Doc Rivers and his GM moves that is killing us. He should also spend time develop players instead of riding our starters to the ground.

Speaking of Doc developing players, I came across a recent article by Ben Bolch saying that Doc will speak to each of his players individually to let them know what to work on during the summer. Here's an excerpt:

"The elder Rivers said rookie shooting guard C.J. Wilcox had a promising future despite barely playing this season. The coach also praised Jordan Hamilton's offense but said he was unsure whether the small forward could play the defense that would earn him a spot in the rotation.

Rivers said he would meet with each of his players individually and provide suggestions for off-season development. He called it "a big summer" for reserve forward-center Spencer Hawes, who is eager for a do-over after enduring the worst season of his career."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-clippers-20150519-story.html

If Doc and his front office people can assemble the right pieces that will fully complement our core of CP, BG, and DJ, then he will have come a long way to erase the heartbreak of how abruptly and brutally the Clippers' season ended.

Learning curve is over.

Doc, GM David Wohl, VP of BO Kevin Eastman, Asst. GM Gary Sacks, and whoever else is involved in the front office need to do a spectacular job this summer.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him stink. He does that on his own,

Doc outcoached Pop, that's how we won. Doc outcoached McHale. That's why we were ahead 3-1 and should have blown them out game 6. It should have been three blowouts. BG was on his way to being the finals MVP. He had 20+ in the first half then took a rest in the second 4 points. What would Barkley or Malone done? DJ was outplaying D12 - for a while. Was it the second game where they took a rest? In the 40 pt turnaround game they almost had to try to lose. They didn't need a plan from the coach. They needed to play basketball. The Clips that won 19 games PROBABLY could have won that one. Pop has a strong bench. We pay Hawes, Baby, turk, Austin and Jamal although they probably wouldn't Our brnch however sucked too except Spencer didn't do too bad.

t have lost that one.

It wasn't Doc. It was our team and they were disgusting

I don't think we peaked too soon at all. We were exactly where we wanted to be: Game 6 at home, up big in the 2nd half, Howard and Harden losing their cool, and Dwight should have been ejected for loading up and shouldering Blake (not a basketball play, clearly loaded up and wanted to knock him on his ass mid flight)

We just choked to end the third, a random 3 here or there by Jamal/JJ/Barnes and the lead would've ballooned to 25ish, they just couldn't hit anything, then we got in our own heads.

Trouble with not having home court to start a series, you MUST win game 6. We had the game won, then choked, it's basketball, it happens.

We were the better team with a 90+% chance of advancing, bad luck, it didn't happen. But what more can you ask for than those odds, it was a total fluke, play that game over 100 times from midway through the 3rd quarter, we win 98 of 'em, it's basketball, it happens.

Now if we're talking us vs Warriors, different conversation, we would be lucky to advance, need roster changes. I hope JJ is gone next year, CJ can defend much better, run much better and is a nice shooter. CJ has no playoff experience, but JJ clearly folded under pressure in some important moments all post season.

You don't win by random shots. A 40 point turn around isn't luck. If you can hit that many shots it's not an accident. That was twenty accidental lucky shots? There was no excuse. It wasn't a fluke. We crumbled. How did they get 119 points? We usually hold opponents to less than 100. That's not a fluke. It's a crumbled defense .It's no heart. Random shots by JJ or JC wouldn't have mattered. We could have been ahead by 50 and we still would have crumbled. You don't blow a 99% chance of wining by luck. If we played 4 games/ year for 25 years we should lose only once. We could have swept them if we had played with energy. As far as JJ folding that's not luck it's choking. Same true for Jamal .Jamal always chokes in the POs. We should have won the last game but they broke our spirit. If we were the better team we would have won, home court or not. Were we the best team in the last game? No because the closest we got was five points. We were not the better team. Maybe on paper but on the court they were. The best team wins. The second best makes excuses .They were the best team because they had players who stepped up not down. A champ doesn't get into his own head. He gets into his opponent's A loser gets into his own head. If it were possible I'd fire every player we have.(Except maybe Ausin) If I could get replacements for our "Big Three" I'd fire them too. I'm sure that's what Blamer wishes he could do now. Would Malone and Stockton have lost like this? Admittedly they had a better team but Malone would....

I understand you're frustrated, but I disagree. It's basketball, you throw the ball up there enough times and it will go in. Josh Smith is an awful 3 point shooter, Corey Brewer is an awful 3 point shooter, yet in the fourth quarter only, they were hitting everything, it was total luck.

Our team had heart, they just underestimated their opponent and put all their eggs in the Game 6 basket. If they closed the 3rd quarter strong, this would all be an afterthought.

Our team was mentally weak, very disappointing, but it was a fluke.

Again, one little problem. Malone and Stockton never won a title. NEVER. The jury is still out on CP3/BG (our Malone and Stockton.)

Addendum: Dwight Howard hurts his knee late in the third quarter last night against GSW. He couldn't have done that against us in Game Six? Talk about not having the Basketball Gods on our side.

I was thinking the same when Dwight hurt his knee. Didn't Josh Smith, his own teammate, run into him? Lol Also, some media guys were tweeting that Klay Thompson was run ragged defending James Harden, probably much in the same way JJ was. By the time the 6th and 7th game of our series came, JJ didn't have any legs left. Didn't watch the WCF game, just saw highlights, but Kerr may at times (and he has the luxury of a wonderful bench at his disposal for this) put another body, perhaps Iggy, on foul-and-get-a free-throw Harden to give Klay a respite. Too bad we really didn't have anyone else on the bench that could have given JJ a real spell to get his legs back. Perhaps then he wouldn't have had such a cold streak going on.

So many things didn't happen for the Clippers. Maybe the Basketball Gods were asleep or maybe they were angry at Doc for screwing up the bench. Ugh. It still stings.

The point is not whether the won a title of not. The question is how both teams lost. The question is that did they play with pride. Utah did. The point is that CP and BG were supposed to be. the new Stockton/Malone. I can't imagine Utah losing by a 40 pt swing. If they, did in the next game they would have had enough pride to eviscerate their opponent especially if Utah were the "Better team" We rolled over CM/JS had the heart and will of champions. You hit me I hit back harder. All I saw were broken players. In the last game if we had lost by two and the lead had gone back and forth I could have lived with that. We blew them out twice and almost a third time The attitude should have been. "Payback is going to be a bitch, you'll be sorry you showed up"

This is not anger, it's the obvious.

The only reason CM/JS didn't win a title - Michael Jordan.

Explain to me EXACTLY how one can have "the heart and will of champions" and not be a Champion? Talk about an oxymoron.

No, Stockton and Malone were no better than CP3 and BG to this point. By definition.

Unless you wish to re-write the dictionary and award a couple of NBA CHAMPIONSHIP trophies to Stockton and Malone "for trying." Kind of like the Little League where everyone is a Champion.

SMH.

Being mentally weak is the same thing as having no heart. "If they closed out the third quarter". "If" is a meaningless word. You do or you don't. It's like being pregnant. You are are you aren't. The fact is that they didn't. No excuses. This is the PO's, what you worked all season for. You underestimate your opponent until he starts kicking your ass then you turn it up. They didn't. Smith and Brewer were in the zone. It wasn't luck. You don't throw up a ball and it luckily falls into the basket. I did rough calculations and they are REAL rough since you can't get data but we had 0.99 % chance of us winning. That was 1/00 chance of losing What are he chances of them winning in this manner? Out of all the games you all have seen how many have been lost with a 40 point swing in the last quarter? 1/1000--? good number? multiple you get 1/10,000. If your percentage is less than 1/10,000 it's a fluke. More and it's not. Let's say that we had a 1/100 chance of losing. Let's say that we had a 1/10 chance of losing the choke game last year. Multiply. 1/10,000 of losing both games like we did. any more than that isn't a fluke. Let's say you are a businessman and you invested. $2 bill in a company with the hope of recouping your cash. You have a group of VIce presidents who promise that on investment X there is a 99% chance you will succeed. It fails. What would Balmer do?. Fire everybody. This team has been castrated and will never win anything again. You don't regrow your balls. If I were he I'd get rid of JC, JJ. Barnes and....

A champion and the heart of a champion are two different things. Being a champion has to do with skill,your luck as to when you play AND YOUR HEART. You are a boxer with mediocre skills and you have to fight Mayweather.. You will lose but you never give up. You are beaten to a bloody pulp and when the ref stops it you have to be restrained. That's the heart of a champion. My favorite player Wilt Chamberlain and arguable the GOAT did not have the heart of a champion. Someone with the heart of a champion doesn't lose he is beaten. We do not. Iverson played swallowing his own blood. Malone tried to play when he was unable to walk.

CP3/BG are very similar to Stockton and Malone. I think the comparisons are spot on. We still have time to change that no doubt, but thus far we haven't shaken that comparison off. As for basketball gods...no such thing. Even game 6, where Houston sat Harden and yet the Rockets were kicking our tail...not a fluke. We lost against the better team. Houston was better, they made roster changes last year and as a result they are in the WCF. The sooner we acknowledge that we have a faulty squad the sooner we can make necessary changes and get further in the playoffs. Till then our loss was no fluke. We didn't get jobbed by the refs, we didn't get bad luck, no Clipper curse. We have to look at our squad and realize it just needs to be changed. But here's my take: Every real problem has a real solution. We have a solution to make this team a championship team, but the question is "Is everyone willing to do what needs to be done to make that happen?" I suspect not.

Good friggin luck with that.

Maybe we read different dictionaries and speak different languages. But you can't have the "heart of a Champion runner" if you never won a race. The two are connected. Yes, if you never won a Championship (in the context of whatever discipline you are discussing), the best you can have is "good college try," "he gave it is all," "I admire him for his effort," "he's one of the best," "he leaves it all on the floor"...but you cannot have the word "Champion" in any sentence description. I realize lately we have cheapened all accomplishments. Kim K is a superstar without ever having acted, danced or told a funny joke.

But if we want to continue this denigration of accolades, then let's say everyone who makes it to the NBA (which is not easy) has the heart of a Champion.

But barring the cheapening of the term "Champion," Stockton and Malone have no more the "heart of an NBA Champion" than CP3 and BG -- to this point. And the likelihood is that Chris and Blake will get an NBA Championship, in this time, is a hell of a lot greater than Stockton and Malone. And that is as immutable as the tides.

Isn't it funny that once we got respect around the League (people were calling us favorites to win it all), the reffing suddenly got more fair. Even Tony "Hitman" Brothers was rather benign in the Game Seven.

To bad once we got everyone's respect, we did our best to kill it.

Clippers need to hire a shrink.

We will agree to differ but to me a person who is a champion and one who has the heart of a champion are different. As I mentioned, WIlt Chamberlain was a champion. He was also lazy and according to those who knew him didn't play that hard. Bill Russell said that Wilt was the greatest underachiever he had ever known.. His biggest criticism was that he had no killer instinct .He got by on superhuman physical ability alone. Here is my explanation as to what I mean by the Heart of a Champion and when I use that term here is what I mean. Please feel free to use your own definition of Heart of a Champion and I will accept it. but I think you'll find that this one is generally acceptable. Definition is as follows and again you can call my definition what what you choose and I will accept the name you give it. "Those who have Hearts of Champions are those who possess the heart, courage, strength of character and the will to win in the same order of magnitude as do the vast majority champions even though they may or may not have been champions themselves. This designation is based on the consensus of opinion of those who are generally deemed knowledgeable in that field and are generally considered reasonable people .A champion is defined as a team or person that has been awarded that title by a generally accepted person or organization governing that sport." I will use this instead of Heart of a Champion if you like. If you want to call it something other than Heart of a Champion I will accept that.. In other words this is what our team lacks. Our team doesn't have it. I feel that....

Karl Malone, as much as you want to lionize him, crapped out on the Lakers when they hired him to bring them a title. Hamstring, as I recall. Chris Paul, same hamstring, played and won against the highly favored Spurs.

Karl Malone, no rings, Heart of a Chumpian. Emphasis on Chump.

Chris Paul, also no rings, soon will have the Heart of a Champion as he will get his ring -- whether here or elsewhere.

End of hypothetical discussion.

You want to be acclaimed as having "the heart of a Champion" -- be a Champion. Even in this Kim K world.

Imagine if we had kg and prince to steady the ship. crazy.

http://www.dallas-mavs.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15292

As I said you may define Heart of Champion any way you like and I will agree but you know what I mean.I told you. As far as Malone yes I lionize and, tigerize and grizzlyize him ad preditorum.. He was injured in Dec and the injury was misdiagnosed and treatment made it worse. That's why he "crapped out". It was his first hiatus for injury ever. Malone missed 40 games. When he returned he still played with a torn meniscus for the rest of the season and had to have the knee drained. This is because his injury was misdiagnosed. Ultimately he couldn't walk in he PO's but had to be restrained from going on the court to play.

Malone with the LAL per 36 minutes 14.5 ppg, 9.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists. This was playing part of the season with torn meniscus ie one good leg. This was as a third option to Shaq and Kobe. Blake 21 ppg, 9.8 reb; 4 assists with two good legs. I don't think he crapped out. considering he played with one leg. It's 'called the heart of someone who was not a champion. He was also meaner than a snake.

I don't understand your Kim K reference. I think I know who she is but I have no clue what she does.

We agree on the "heart of someone who is not a Champion." Hopefully Chris Paul will win a title -- at least for all the regular sized guys in this world!

As to Kim Kardasshian, I do not think she knows what she does, but she makes a lot of money doing nothing notable.