The Clippers
have their postseason dreams cut short by the Jazz. Get the latest on that match-up and others.
LOS ANGELES — Enough is enough. Break them up.
This isn’t about one game, it’s about six years. Break them up.
The Clippers’ Game 7 disintegration in front of the Utah Jazz Sunday wasn’t an upset, it was a rerun. Break them up.
The end of this firstround series should also be the end of an era. Los Angeles has seen enough, even with ex-Magic coach Doc Rivers these past four seasons.
This core group of Clippers has failed enough. The fact that three of their four stars are free to leave the team this summer should be reason enough.
Two seasons after rolling over in Game 7 in the second round in Houston, Clippers were bounced by the Jazz in a 104-91 loss Sunday that was stunningly lopsided and sickeningly familiar.
Two seasons ago in their most important game of the year, they didn’t lead once. On Sunday in a Staples Center eventually filled with boos, they led exactly twice, never by more than one point, and never after the game’s first four minutes.
It was awful. It was unsightly. It was six years of playoff failure whittled down to two-and-a-half hours of abject frustration.
In the game’s first timeout, somebody dusted off Clipper Darrell to lead a cheer. That didn’t work. Late in the first quarter, Jay Z and Beyonce showed up to sit courtside. That didn’t work. By the third quarter, the game was being stopped to clean up some sort of spill directly in front of Jay Z and Beyonce, and all was lost.
It was only the third win by a road team in the NBA’s last 15 Game 7s. It was the Jazz’ first playoff series win in seven years. And it came less than 48 hours after the Clippers’ most inspirational win of the season to stay alive in Utah. It was same old, same old. “Once again … we’re done,’’ said Chris Paul, who was finally crushed by the weight of carrying his teammates and missed 13 of 19 shots.
At least Paul showed up. Former Magic star J.J. Redick did not, unbelievably making only one basket. Then there was DeAndre Jordan, who scored 24 points with several backboard-rattling dunks but gave much of that back defensively, the Clippers being outscored by 10 points in the paint and by 16 points when Jordan was on the court.
Rivers had a lousy coaching game, not allowing Redick a chance to find himself while playing the ancient Paul Pierce for 21 mostly unproductive minutes.
Jamal Crawford was hot late with 14 points in the fourth quarter but only scored six points before that as the Clippers slowly sank out of sight.
“Basketball is a game of rhythm, and I guess we had trouble finding our rhythm,’’ said Crawford of the most talented group of out-of-step players in the league.
Afterward the Clippers repeatedly talked about the difficulties of winning a series without their secondbest player, the injured Blake Griffin. Except the Jazz survived the series without the full services of its second-best player as Rudy Gobert was either out or non-existent in two Jazz wins at Staples Center.
“Like I tell every guy, we’ve just got to keep pounding away,’’ said Jazz shooter George Hill. “Anything is possible.’’
This summer Paul and Griffin can opt out of their contracts while Redick will become a free agent. It is the Clippers’ chance to change the culture of a team that, despite being one of the league’s top regular-season clubs the past six seasons, has yet to make it as far as the Western Conference Finals despite having three of the best 25 players on the planet.
Swept by San Antonio. Crumbled against Memphis. Stumbled again Oklahoma City. Collapsed against Houston. Injured against Portland. Dissolved against Utah.
Steve Ballmer, the Clippers owner who spent Sunday’s game charmingly wearing a souvenir white Tshirt over his usual plaid dress shirt, needs to understand this more than anybody. There are rumblings that because Ballmer has only been here three seasons and because two of those playoff chases were cut short by injuries, he hasn’t seen enough to give up on this group.
“Things are going to change, but we don’t know what’s going to change,’’ admitted Rivers in an interview a couple of days ago. “Things are going to change, but it doesn’t mean the key guys aren’t going to be here.’’