Doc Rivers takes the blame
The Los Angeles Clippers were easily the most talked about team coming into the campaign. They had signed free agent Kawhi Leonard from the Toronto Raptors after he led the club to their first ever NBA Championship and won an NBA Final MVP in the process. They also acquired Paul George to assemble a team that many believed were also capable of winning an NBA title. That wasn’t the case though.
On Tuesday evening, the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead and were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the seventh game of their second-round playoff series. While the result was a disappointing one for the Clippers and their fans, following the contest head coach Doc Rivers wasn’t running away from reporters. He took the blame head on.
“We didn’t meet them,” Rivers said of the expectations following the game, via ESPN. “That’s the bottom line. I’m the coach, and I’ll take any blame for it. But we didn’t meet our expectations, clearly, because if we had, in my opinion, we’d still be playing.”
With the Los Angeles Lakers already in the Western Conference final, many were dreaming of an all-Los Angeles battle featuring some of the best players in the world today. As a result of the blown series lead, Rivers becomes the first coach in league history to blow three 3-1 series leads. He also blew a 3-1 series lead in the postseason with the Houston Rockets in 2015 and the Detroit Pistons in 2003.
“I was never comfortable. I just wasn’t,” Rivers said of the series lead Los Angeles had over Denver. “I just knew conditioning-wise, like, we had guys that just couldn’t play minutes, and that’s hard, you know. I mean, there were two or three times a night where we actually started getting it going, and a guy had to come out. I mean, it is what it is. So no, I was never comfortable. I can tell you that up front. I told our coaches that.”
While Rivers is happy to take the blame and keep the pressure off his players, the truth is the team didn’t perform on the court when they needed to most. They had a 16-point lead at halftime in game six against the Nuggets but failed to close out the game and it ultimately cost them a trip to the Western Conference final.
“We just couldn’t make no shots,” said Leonard following the game, via ESPN. “That’s when it comes to the team chemistry, knowing what we should run to get the ball in spots or just if someone’s getting doubled or they’re packing the paint, try to make other guys make shots, and we gotta know what exact spots we need to be.
“And you know, just gotta carry over and get smarter as a team. Get smarter. Basketball IQ got to get better.”
Leonard’s former team the Raptors were also eliminated in game seven of the second-round against the Boston Celtics. Reporters and fans alike have begun to wonder whether Leonard should have just stayed in Toronto and attempt to go back-to-back.
Game one of the Western Conference final takes place on Friday night between the Nuggets and Lakers from inside the NBA bubble.
