Clippers traveling a rutted playoff road once again
It’s not simply the Los Angeles Clippers vs. the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals. The Clippers are fighting their own fraught playoff history.
It’s a rutted road of blown leads, blowout losses, and early dismissals. The burden has lingered far longer than any of the current players have been on the roster.
Merely by reaching the conference finals for the first time, the Clippers have altered their playoff history. That they did it by overcoming 0-2 deficits to win series against Dallas and Utah is even more compelling.
And because they play in Hollywood, why not up the drama? They’re back home trailing the Suns 0-2.
Game 3 is tonight at Staples Center. The Clippers are a 1-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
Whether five-time AllStar Kawhi Leonard returns for the Clippers from a right knee injury remains to be seen. He was hurt in Game 4 against Utah. Leonard stayed back in L.A. to rehab while the team lost in Phoenix.
Chris Paul reportedly intends to play for the Suns after being sidelined for the first two games of the series while in the league’s health and safety protocols.
“It’s going to be that much tougher,” Paul George said about Paul’s impending return.
Paul would like nothing better than to win on his former team’s home court, where he, along with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, rehabilitated the Clippers’ reputation from woebegone franchise to exciting contender. Paul was MVP of the 2013 AllStar Game. His alley-oop passes to Griffin and Jordan for dunks established the team’s Lob City moniker.
The trio was part of an epic collapse in 2015. The Clippers led James Harden and the Houston Rockets 3-1 in the second round, but they dropped the final three games to lose 4-3.
After six seasons, in which the Clippers never got past the second round, Paul exited. Griffin and Jordan followed him out of L.A.
The playoff shortcomings didn’t end there.
With George and Leonard in their first season together, the Clippers led Denver 3-1 in the bubble last year. They appeared headed toward their first appearance in the conference finals.
Instead, they blew a 15-point lead to lose Game 5, blew a 19-point lead in losing Game 6 and collapsed in the fourth quarter to lose Game 7. Coach Doc Rivers ended up getting fired.
SOURCE: CELTICS HIRE NETS ASSISTANT UDOKA AS NEW COACH >> The Boston Celtics have hired Brooklyn Nets assistant Ime Udoka to be their new coach, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced.
The hiring was first reported by ESPN.
Udoka, 43, played a total of 316 games over seven seasons with five NBA teams before retiring in 2012 and joining Gregg Popovich’s staff in San Antonio as an assistant coach. He was with the Spurs for seven seasons, including in 2013-14, when they won the NBA title.
Udoka joined the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019 and was with the Nets last year.