Splitting the defense
Clippers coach Doc Rivers hadn’t changed his opinion one day after declaring the Clippers “were robbed” on that call, although he said he won’t file any formal protest. The NBA issued a statement Wednesday night saying the call was made correctly in the absence of clear evidence to change it on replay review.
Paul still appeared glum, giving short, clipped answers to questions about his turnovers and the Clippers’ ability to bounce back.
“I woke up this morning with a beautiful wife and two beautiful kids,” Paul said. “At the end of the day, it is basketball, but there’s a lot of guys’ livelihoods who depend on it, so I’ve got to do my part.”
After three weeks of a circus atmosphere around the Clippers, Rivers still believes his young team has gathered enough resilience to force the series back to Oklahoma City for a deciding game. The Clippers played 43 outstanding minutes in Game 5 to reach the brink of what could have been a benchmark victory in a shift of the Western Conference hierarchy, only to let it slip away.
Rivers thinks it’s a lesson the Clippers needed.
“You don’t win it easy,” Rivers said. “We’re trying to do something special here and be something special. And if you’re trying to stand out in any job, it’s going to be hard. You’re going to face adversity, and you’ve just got to accept that that’s part of the process. Yeah, this is hard. It’s supposed to be. And that’s the only thing I told our guys. What’s going on right now is exactly what should happen to win. You have to go through stuff to win, and you’ve just got to deal with it.”
The Thunder traveled to the West Coast on Wednesday with a bit of house money after the comeback by Westbrook and Kevin Durant, who combined for 17 of Oklahoma City’s 19 points in the final 9½ minutes while Los Angeles fumbled, stumbled and finally crashed. Oklahoma City could advance to its third Western Conference final in four years with a victory in Game 6.
But the Thunder also recall their own collapse in Game 4 at Staples Center, where they blew a 16-point lead with nine minutes left last weekend. Game 5 told coach Scott Brooks plenty about his team’s tenacity.
“I like the fact that we did that after the game before,” Brooks said. “We had a lot of opportunities to win that game.”
Neither team has been significantly better in this series: Los Angeles has cumulatively outscored the Thunder 540539 through five games, with Oklahoma City’s two-man offensive game countering the Clippers’ more balanced attack.