Clippers’ collapse is good, ends dominance of super teams
I’m sure the NBA league office wanted the Western Conference Finals to be a battle of Los Angeles.
A big-market rivalry with elite star power on display? Yes, please.
Instead, the league will have the near-anonymous Denver Nuggets taking on LeBron James and the Lakers after the Clippers choked away a 3-1 series lead.
And it’s the best thing that could have happened for the league.
Denver might not bring eyeballs to televisions across the country, but their inclusion in the final four serves as an important reminder to fans and the league alike that talent doesn’t automatically bring about success.
Truth be told, after more than a decade of super-team dominance, everyone probably needed that reminder.
After adding Kawhi Leonard and Paul George this past offseason, the Clippers carried themselves all campaign with the confidence of the defending champions. There was an arrogance to them — they went weeks, if not months, without seriously engaging in regularseason games, with “load management” a consistent refrain around the team.
All that load management led to sources around the team admitting to ESPN after Game 7 Tuesday that they were too tired to finish in the fourth quarter. Funny, that.
If you believe in karma, the Clippers’ epic collapse is just.
If you’re a fan of basketball, you should be elated.
Had the Clippers won Game 7 on Tuesday — or any of their other opportunities to put away Denver — it would have been another example of star talent trumping elite systems and team play. It would have perpetuated the false narrative that the teams with the best players can coast until the conference finals or even the NBA Finals.
That would have been bad for the game, no doubt. The league has developed a reputation for games — regular season and even playoff games — being perfunctory affairs.
But Denver’s comeback victory clearly shows that titles are earned, not given, in the NBA.
You might not think so, given that the Warriors with Kevin Durant won two recent titles, but had those teams acted like these Clippers, they would not have won those titles. I can guarantee that.
No, you have to have heart and fight to win. The Eastern Conference champion, either the Heat or Celtics, will no doubt have viable blue-collar thread — the NBA should view this unexpected reality as a positive.
Meanwhile, the Clippers need to head back to the drawing board. Leonard and George are set to be free agents after next season.