Out of Lakers' shadow, Clippers hoping to seize L.A.'s playoff attention
LOS ANGELES — For a quarter century, the Los Angeles Clippers struggled to get out of the shadow of Showtime. After arriving from San Diego in 1984, the team was constantly lost in the glare of purple and gold.
That started to turn around in 2011-12. While the Los Angeles Lakers were in a downward spiral that would eventually leave them in lottery land, the Clippers were beginning the first of four straight postseason appearances after having made the playoffs only once in the previous 15 years.
With exciting players like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, a strong supporting crew, the arrival of Doc Rivers to both coach and run the front office, and the purchase of the club by Steve Ballmer following the ugly departure of Donald Sterling, the keys to the city were dangling in front of the Clippers.
If only they could add a few championship banners to hang alongside the array won by the Lakers that adorn Staples Center. Instead, the Clippers have never even reached the conference finals, knocked out in the second round in three of the last four seasons.
The crusher came in the series that ended last season for the team. Up three games to one over the Houston Rockets, the Clippers collapsed, losing the last three even after leading Houston by 19 points at home late in the third quarter of Game 6.
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Now, the Clippers are back again, optimistic that this will be the breakthrough postseason. Finishing fourth in the Western Conference, they will have home-court advantage over the fifth-place Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, the best-of-seven series beginning Sunday night at Staples Center.
But even this week, with the Lakers finishing up their worst season ever at 17-65, they managed to blow the Clippers off the front page with Kobe Bryant’s farewell 60-point performance.
But with Bryant finally gone, the Clippers have the stage to themselves, confidant their past failures can fuel a successful future.
“This is a tougher team, mentally tougher, and deeper,” said Rivers.
Finishing 53-29 in the regular season, the Clippers won three out of four from the Trail Blazers (44-38). The two teams have never met in the postseason.
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The biggest question mark for the Clippers is Griffin, who has played in only five games since missing just under three months of the season due to a partially torn quad tendon, a fractured right hand and a suspension following a fight with a member of the Clippers’ equipment staff.
“Blake is trying to adjust to being Blake again,” said Rivers. “You don’t miss the amount of time he missed and be right back to being yourself again.”
Also on the recovery list is shooting guard J.J. Redick who has a bruised left heel. “It’s getting better,” said Redick. “My plan is to play.”
His presence might be a key to the series. Should the Trail Blazers pull off an upset against the favored Clippers, the impetus would figure to come from the Portland backcourt where fourth-year point guard Damian Lillard (25.3 points per game) and third-year shooting guard C.J. McCollum (21.6) have been the team’s dominant offensive performers.
The Clippers have waited a year to get the bitter taste of last year’s devastating postseason exit out of their collective mouths. And decades to finally put a banner of their own on the wall.