Nearly three hours before, coach Doc Rivers stood under the bleachers of Sleep Train Arena talking about not wanting his Clippers to forget Game 6 of the 2015 Western Conference semifinals against the Houston Rockets and the implosion for the ages, even if it required him twisting the knife, when all of the sudden it didn’t require a reminder from the coach. The Clippers offered it themselves.
Opening night, the visitors with championship aspirations facing the Sacramento Kings, who are coming off a 29-win season. Los Angeles led by 15 points early in the fourth quarter … and then gave it all away. Rivers, he would recall later, had already said to assistant Lawrence Frank midway through the third period that “This game should be over and it’s not. I’m a little nervous.” His fears came true.
The Clippers went from up 15 with 10:56 left to up seven with 8:20 remaining to trailing 93-92 with 6:51 showing, and with their lack of killer instinct showing. The game was still tied at 100 with 3:10 to go. They did pull away to win 111-104 as Blake Griffin had 33 points and eight rebounds and Chris Paul 18 points and 11 assists against two turnovers, but only after being on the wrong side of a 15-1 run and watching the Kings shoot 57.1 percent in the fourth quarter.
Game 6 of the semifinals against Houston was supposed to be a lesson the Clippers learned the hard way, but at least learned. Game 6 was leading 3-2 in the series and by 19 points in the third quarter with an opportunity to clinch a spot in the Western Conference finals. Then, the Clippers coughed that one up and Game 7 as well. Game 6 was scorching bad, one of the two or three worst moments on the court for a franchise known for calamities, a tattoo across the forehead that stayed with them into the next season.
It didn’t just seem that way as that next season arrived Wednesday night, the final home opener for the Kings at Sleep Train before they move into the new arena in 2016. Rivers made it fact. Game 6 in the past was the last thing he wanted.
“I don’t think you can put that out of your mind,” he told NBA.com. “I think you’re kidding yourself if you think you can. I use it in its proper place, I’ll put it that way. But I do think it’s important that we remember we were right there, we had a shot and we didn’t take care of business.”
The proper place being anytime he thinks the Clippers need a well-placed electrode. A sluggish workout, maybe. Just because it hadn’t come up in a while and the most powerful basketball man in the organization, the president as well as the coach, decided to return the memory to the forefront.
Houston. Game 6.
Don’t forget.
“It just depends on how practice went that day or what triggered that thought,” said Jamal Crawford, one of the stars of what should be an upgraded bench. “But he definitely reminds us of it. Not in a way that’s condescending, but saying, ‘Hey, this job’s never finished. It’s never over with. Can’t take your foot off the gas.’ We’ve got to continually learn that. You always want to learn in wins rather than losses, but it’s an on-going process.”
The toxic spill against the Rockets, at Staples Center no less, became the emblem, but, really, the Clippers’ problems go beyond that. They had a meltdown the previous postseason as well, wasting a seven-point lead in the final 50 seconds at Oklahoma City as what could have/should have been a 3-2 lead in the conference semifinals. That soon became a 3-2 deficit and, soon enough, a 4-2 elimination.
Getting eliminated by good teams, OK. This is two straight postseasons a veteran team with locker room leaders and a championship coach went down while unable to dislodge whatever was stuck in their throat.
The strange part is that the Clippers have the ability to dig in — beating the Spurs in Game 7 of the 2015 first round was resounding proof of resiliency, exactly the kind of victory that made it seem L.A. had turned a corner and would, in the aftermath of OKC, no longer shrink away in the playoffs. Then came the next series against the Rockets in that forever Game 6 … and a sudden vacation.
The talented, experienced, potential-filled Clippers now have everything to prove about being able to win when it matters. This is the third season with Rivers, Griffin, Paul, Crawford and DeAndre Jordan together, after all, and the first two both ended with a loud sound and something that looked like a pancake.
“It just says we’re right there,” Rivers said. “But we lost to teams with good talent too. It just tells us we are right in the thick of things and we have to get better. We clearly didn’t have enough. Whether we want to say, ‘We folded,’ whatever, the team that beat us then went on and lost to a better team. We don’t have enough yet and we’re hoping that this year we do.”
This season is their latest opportunity, but the good chances won’t last forever. This season is time to put up.
“That is so over-used,” Rivers countered. “The way I always look at that is, is it put up or shut up for Oklahoma? Is it put up or shut up for Memphis? They haven’t made it to The Finals. In the last two days, honest to God, I’ve heard this is put up or shut up for Chicago, this is put up or shut up for us, this is put up or shut up for Oklahoma, this is put up or shut up for Memphis. You know what I mean? I get what you’re saying, and I believe that we’re going to put up for sure. But we’re not going to shut up. That’s what I always say. We know what we want to do. We want to win it. But I don’t think the average fan understands how hard it is to win. We are right there.”
With Game 6 against the Rockets by their side.
Scott Howard-Cooper has covered the NBA since 1988. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
