PORTLAND, Ore. – When the injuries to Blake Griffin and Chris Paul healed, and the bangs and bruises DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick fought through went away, and the blood from the eye injury Austin Rivers played through dried up, what did the Clippers learn about their team?
Jamal Crawford called it resolve. Paul called it fight. Mostly, the Clippers learned they're not the type of team to just fold when adverse circumstances and situations hit, which they hope helps them moving forward as they embark on their 2016-17 season.
“A lot of resilience,” Rivers said. “I truly believe that if we had our full team, we could've done something special last year – but that's not here nor there. We need our full team like anybody else does, or at least most of it. Our goal this year is to really take that next step, and it starts with our first game.”
That first game just happens to be back where the Clippers ended their season last year, with the team returning to Portland for the first time since last postseason's Game 6, when an ankle injury didn't stop Jordan from pulling down 20 rebounds; and stitches around Rivers' eye didn't stop the guard from posting 21 points and eight assists; and Jamal Crawford knew he needed to provide an offensive jolt, finishing as the game's leading scorer with 32 points, despite the eventual, emotional three-point loss while playing without two superstars.
“They showed great resilience,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “They actually showed it all year. They showed it last year, just without having Blake. Like, you've still got to win; you still got to try to win the game.
“CP goes out, guys don't flinch. Blake goes out again, they don't flinch. J.J. is hobbling around the floor, and our guys just kept going. You want to have that same spirit and health; that's a great combination. You don't want to have it because of injuries, you want to have it because that's just who you are.”
Griffin said he was proud of how hard everyone fought, despite the result. His Game 4 quad injury forced him out the rest of the series, as did Paul's hand injury.
But, the Clippers still came seconds away from forcing a Game 7.
And maybe, Doc Rivers said, last year's daunting scenarios will help them in the long run.
“I think we didn't have that grit two or three years ago,” he said. “I think that's something that we have morphed into, and that's why we fought so hard to try to keep as many of those guys around.”
The Clippers managed to do that, for the most part. They kept their starters, and they re-signed Austin Rivers, Crawford and Wesley Johnson, while adding some veteran complementary pieces with playoff experience to fill out the bench.
Crawford said to continue going through the journey with the same team without seeing the end result you want “can either kill you or make you stronger.”
“And it hasn't killed us,” Crawford said. “It would mean everything to break through with this group – I've said it over and over again – because we all felt the same heartache. It wasn't like somebody felt it more than the other person; we all felt it together. So, to breakthrough with this group, the core group of guys, I think would mean more.”
That's part of the reason Crawford decided to run it back with the same group – a decision that will make the Clippers his longest tenured team by season's end. It would make for a fairytale story if that choice led to his first NBA title. Or if Paul and Griffin had to go through the pain of having their postseasons cut short before reaching their goals. Or if the Clippers, as a team, needed to go through the growing pains of the past few playoffs to get to finally have a championship trophy in their grasp.
But, as Paul knows, how their tale ends is up to them. In the end, regardless of how they got there, they've got to win to make it one worth telling.
“I just feel like everybody has a story,” Paul said. “You know what I mean? When you do win it, it's a great story to tell, but, you know, there are rookies who come into the league and win an NBA championship…Just win it, and you can tell your story.”
