LOS ANGELES – Doc Rivers dropped into the rolling chair behind the folding table
with a plastic surface, his long-sleeve white dress shirt unbuttoned at the
collar, the red tie with diagonal pinstripes loosened about a half-inch.
“Doc,” a reporter said to the coach of the LA Clippers as the news conference —
and the offseason — began Sunday afternoon, “do you want to say something
first?”
“Oh, no,” Rivers replied without hesitation.
Because, really, what was left to say? Another year, another early playoff exit.
Another greased step into summer vacation, even if this was the rarity of being
shoved into the empty elevator shaft by the opponent instead of the freak
happenings and self-inflicted basketball disasters of the past. The Clippers
lost Game 7 at Staples Center 104-91 and the series 4-3 because of the Utah Jazz
and not the Clippers. Perhaps there was strange solace in a typical Clippers’
exit for a change, without the fireball implosions of elimination against the
Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014 or the Houston Rockets in ’15 or the Portland
Trail Blazers in ’16 as Chris Paul and Blake Griffin got hurt the same night and
what had been a 2-0 series lead blew into the wind.
That just didn’t make the search for answers any easier. If anything, it’s
gotten more complicated. The Clippers lost in the first round for the second
year in a row, haven’t had playoff progress since 2014, just got rolled in a
Game 7 at home while trailing by double digits most of the final 2 ½ quarters
and by as many as 21 points, and what happens next isn’t just a management
decision.
J.J. Redick will become a free agent. CP3 and Griffin could become free agents.
Paul Pierce is retiring, a first-ballot Hall of Famer at the end of 19 seasons.
There are numerous moving pieces as the latest deconstruction begins, not just
whether the front office follows through on previous statements that it wants to
keep the core together. (Another consideration as it becomes obvious the current
group can’t reach its potential: It’s one thing to call out to break up the
Clippers but quite another to find replacements who give L.A. a better chance to
advance.)
“We’ll figure that one out,” Rivers said in the gloomy aftermath inside Staples
Center. “I’m thinking about the loss today instead of the summer. I’m sure
everyone will have their own suggestions. We’ve been reading about our obituary
for about three months now, so I’m sure everyone will have that.”
Three months? Try the last three years.
“I really don’t think it was on their minds much,” Rivers said of the
uncertainty that was never far away, in public debate at least. “I don’t know
that personally. As a coach, it wasn’t on my mind at all. What does that do for
us when we have the next games and stuff like that? I think it’s a great
conversation for everybody outside our locker room. I don’t think it’s a
conversation we’re having in our locker room, I can say that.”
Sunday afternoon, as the Jazz prepared to fly an hour north to open the Western
Conference semifinals against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday in Oakland,
was obviously not the time for the Clippers to decide what happens next — “We
just lost probably like 20 minutes ago,” Paul said when asked if he had given
any consideration to his early-termination option.
But they knew the questions were coming and responded without rancor or
frustration. As Paul also said when a question began, “You’ve been down this
road before…”:
“Yeah. Too many times.”
And now they’re back on it, deep along the highway and about to reach another
intersection.
“Luckily that’s not my job, know what I mean?” Paul deflected. “That’s not my
job. My job is to come in, try to make sure I’m in the best shape possible, try
to lead our team and stuff like that. That’s not my job to maneuver who’s here
and who’s there.”
But it is partly his decision, based on the option to make himself a free agent,
just as it is with Griffin after missing the last four-plus games of the series
with an injured right big toe. They can like the city and the organization, and
every indication is both do, yet also begin to wonder if going elsewhere
provides a better chance at a title.
That’s how the off season began, with players and the front office both facing
major decisions and no one in a mood to contemplate the long term. There simply
was nothing to say right away, after the newest reason to consider whether it
will never happen for this group, because they’ve been down this road before.
Too many times.
Scott Howard-Cooper has covered the NBA since 1988. You can e-mail him here,
find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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