Clippers face their curses, Warriors wait
It won’t be an Oracle-like crowd. It won’t be a festival of unbridled optimism, of people knowing the home team will somehow pull it out. When Clippers fans file into Staples Center for Sunday’s Game 7 against Utah with the season on the line, they’ll be preparing for the worst.
They can’t help themselves. Misery and the Clippers have connected far too often.
The way it looks from here, the Clippers should win, and prepare for Game 1 against the Warriors in Oakland on Tuesday night. For all the talk about Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and John Wall, the best player in this year’s playoffs just might be Chris Paul. He’s a master of fourth-quarter dominance, from his deadly shooting to his leadership and clever passing. How he’s never had the pleasure of competing in a Western Conference finals — well, that’s among the great mysteries of our time. But he has been sensational in this series.
At one point during the Clippers’ Game 6 win in Utah on Friday night, Paul turned to Paul Pierce, the storied forward about to retire, and told him, “You’re not ending your career in Utah.” And it proved to be a very good night for coach Doc Rivers’ team. His son, Austin, rose to the occasion on both ends of the floor. Jamal Crawford and Marreese Speights had hot streaks off the bench. With Joe Johnson preparing to break the Clippers’ hearts once again, 6foot-11 DeAndre Jordan switched out to him and aggressively forced an errant threepoint shot in the final seconds.
In the aftermath, Paul took a moment to embrace his coach. Both men were smiling — a snapshot for the evening, if not Clippers lore. Now it’s Game 7, at home, and Utah center Rudy Gobert won’t be at full strength (after missing three games with a knee injury, he sat out Friday night's fourth quarter with a left ankle sprain). Everything’s in place for a big, important afternoon as the L.A. crowd grows restless and the Clippers sift through the haze of doubt.
Around the NBA
The Eastern Conference playoffs are about to get especially good, thanks to the heated Celtics-Wizards rivalry. There were angry confrontations all season: Marcus Smart-Bradley Beal, SmartWall, Brandon JenningsTerry Rozier, and the most incendiary of them all, WallJae Crowder. Having Wall going against Isaiah Thomas in the point-guard matchup is enticing enough. A simmering, legitimate feud only elevates the spectacle.
With the strong likelihood of drawing one of the top two picks, the Celtics must have weighed the notion of trading Thomas — eligible for a fiveyear, $200 million deal in the fall of 2018 at the age of 29 — and replacing him with Lonzo Ball or Markelle Fultz at the point. That remains a possibility, but the Celtics were deeply impressed by Thomas’ performance and demeanor as he dealt with his sister’s death during the Chicago series. (Thomas flew home to attend Saturday’s funeral and is expected to play in Game 1 Sunday afternoon.)
“We all wanted to just thank him,” Gerald Green told reporters. “I really don’t know how he’s able to do it. But that’s our leader. We’re still with him. And we will always be with him.”
What got into Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg, making a big deal out of Thomas’ palm-ball dribbling? This might have raised some debate 20 years ago, when Tim Hardaway and Allen Iverson turned palming into an acceptable art form, but now? To be sure, traditionalists loved Hoiberg saying, “When you’re able to put your hand under the ball and take two or three steps and put it back down, it’s impossible to guard him in those situations.” But this is common practice in the league. You’d better take seven or eight steps if you expect to be called for traveling.
Unfortunate for fans of Festus Ezeli, but no surprise: With Jusuf Nurkic due to play center next season, the Portland Trail Blazers have declined an option year for Ezeli, who had a second knee surgery and never played a minute — while earning $7.4 million.
Russell Westbrook’s future in Oklahoma City: He is signed through next season, but the new collective bargaining agreement makes it possible for him to sign a five-year extension this summer for some $219 million, far more than any other team could offer. It remains to be seen if he’s interested. He’s fiercely loyal to the Thunder, but where’s the help on that youthful, flawed roster? Westbrook didn’t trust anyone to take a shot when it mattered against Houston, and you couldn’t blame him.
With Larry Bird stepping down as president and no end in sight to the club’s mediocrity, there’s a strong possibility the Indiana Pacers trade Paul George this summer before he can leave as an unrestricted free agent in 2018. The Lakers want him, badly, with draft picks and young talent to offer.
The Lakers have honored Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West and, most recently, Shaquille O’Neal with statues outside Staples Center, with Kobe Bryant next in line. What about Elgin Baylor? Few players are more historically significant. He was the first highflying forward to leave a lasting imprint on the NBA, and his numbers are astonishing (sample: 38.3 points and 18.6 rebounds per game in 1961-62). Major oversight there. Bruce Jenkins is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: bjenkins@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Bruce_Jenkins1