Doc Rivers makes Clippers' NBA title hopes real

LOS ANGELES — For the Los Angeles Clippers, this season was never ever about this season.

It was all about this postseason.

The Clippers had already proven last year that, led by top-10 NBA players Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, they could beat good teams and finish with a gaudy won-lost record (56-26). All that got them was a first-round exit from the playoffs (courtesy of the Memphis Grizzlies) and a fired coach (Vinny Del Negro).

So impressive as their credentials are, do not be blinded by their flashy statistics, their MVP candidate (Griffin, as opposed to Paul last year), their defensive and most improved player of the year candidate (DeAndre Jordan) or their sixth man of the year candidate (Jamal Crawford).

And don't look too much at their raucous sellout crowds at Staples Center or the fact they've replaced the Los Angeles Lakers as Tinseltown's team to watch.

Instead, as the Clippers' first regular season under coach Doc Rivers gives way to the playoffs, keep an eye on the Clippers' psyche. Watch when things get physical. Or when Griffin gets fouled hard, as he seemingly always does. Or when Griffin or Paul lose their cool and draw a technical. (Each had at least 10 in the regular season.)

Do the Clippers then fall apart, or do they then concentrate on the next play?

That might be the biggest test in Rivers' quest to turn the Clippers into champions.

From the first day he looked at tape of last year's Clippers, Rivers could see examples of what he calls "emotional highjacking." The team got too emotional and carried anger or frustration into next play, or the next quarter.

Some would call it a lack of mental toughness, and some would say that, for the Clippers, it's something they're still working on and need to improve if they're going to get deep into the playoffs.

Rivers saw the weakness as recently as in the Clippers' April 9 107-101 loss at home to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Clippers got pushed around – "legally," Rivers said – early. They got flustered, particularly on offense, and veered away from the ball movement and trust level that has marked their improvement as an offensive team this season. They forced bad shots. Griffin was called for his 15th technical foul, one shy of the number of technicals that warrants a one-game suspension.

That night, forward Matt Barnes, one of the holdovers from last year, when the Clippers won their first two playoff games before losing four in a row to Memphis, was asked about the team's mental toughness as he left Staples Center.

"We lacked that last year," Barnes told USA TODAY Sports. "I think it's a key for us to play through the emotional ups and downs of a game, of the playoffs. I think we're better prepared for that this year. It's always a work in progress. But I think we're getting better."

Crawford thinks the Clippers are greatly improved in that area, thanks to Rivers.

"We're definitely tougher mentally," he said. "It's night and day. Last year, I guess we were like the champion boxer that is really good until he gets knocked down. Then you have to see what he's really made of. Sometimes he gets up, sometimes he doesn't.

"This year, we're definitely more battle-tested. Look at the injuries we've had. I missed a bunch of games. Chris missed six weeks, J.J. (Redick) missed two months. Imagine without all that. We could be looking at 60-plus wins. But we never made excuses. That's Doc and his staff, keeping us prepared. We're a no-excuse team.

"I honestly think Doc has been the MVP of our team."

Rivers, 52, who was a tough point guard in the 1980s and '90s and the inspirational coach of the Boston Celtics' 2008 NBA title, has seen progress, a lot of it.

But he waits, along with Crawford and the rest of the league, to see how the 2014 Clippers respond when they get knocked down.

"You've still got to find a way to win when you're not right," Rivers said. "So what if things aren't going well? You can still hang in and win."

If it's still a work in progress, Rivers says he knows, from experience, that the playoffs are different.

"Teams grow through the playoffs," he said. "We will."