Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers were nowhere near close to 100 percent when they were defeated in Game 6 of their first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers last week.
After all, the team lost both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin for the playoffs during Game 3 of that series.
This came with the Clippers up 2-0 on Portland. They’d then go on to lose the final four, maintaining a competitive mentality along the way.
Despite the viable injury excuses, one thing is apparent here. The Clippers simply haven’t lived up to postseason expectations since the core of Griffin, Paul and DeAndre Jordan came to fruition back in 2011-12.
In the five playoff appearances with this trio leading the charge, Los Angeles has failed to advance past the conference semifinals.
Knowing full well his team was up against it following a 53-win season, Rivers doesn’t seem prepared to blow things up in Southern California:
“We’re close, and we know that,” Rivers said, via the team’s official website. “Obviously, with the injuries, we literally don’t know what we could have done.”
The championship head coach went on to indicate that if the Clippers had lost in the first round while 100 percent healthy, something else might have taken place during the summer.
This something else likely would have included breaking up the big three.
The primary issue here is that Los Angeles isn’t getting any closer to the top two teams out west, the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs. Instead, the gap seems to be growing even further.
Without the necessary cash flow under the cap and unwilling to move one of these key pieces, it’s going to be hard for Los Angeles to bridge this gap.
That’s the major problem. Can the trio of Paul, Griffin and Jordan lead Los Angeles to a title? I guess we will continue to see the team try moving forward.