Throughout this long season, the LA Clippers have been darlings of the league’s keen bettors and intelligentsia, though at times so many fans and even a good percentage of Clippers peers wondered why.
They encouraged injured players to take plenty of time to recover, long insisted as a mantra throughout the season and the load was handled so aggressively that at one point they were fined $ 50,000 by the NBA for breaking rules. procedures in rest Kawhi Leonard.
All of these are considered respectable tactics nowadays, especially for a team with fragile stars. But it also seemed to have an unfortunate side effect: the bad habit of procrastinating the Clippers. They like to leave their best game for later.
They roamed frequently throughout the season, fueling the Los Angeles Lakers and their ferocious pursuit of the number 1 seed.
In January, a tired Montrezl Harrell harangued teammates to wake up and said “We are not a great team”.
In February it was Leonard, in a rare plume of emotion, dismayed by another malaise when he commanded, “I mean, now. The time is now,” when asked when the Clippers would start acting like their resume.
After all these months, it is still happening. This time, Saturday in Game 2 against the Denver Nuggets.
That doesn’t detract from the 110-101 win in Denver: they earned it and scored 54 combined points from Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
But this game was centered around the first 12 minutes, in which Denver played with much more energy and commitment than the Clippers which resulted in conceding 44 points and creating a 19-point deficit.
It has long been said that the most desperate team often wins the playoffs. It is the origin of the most important quote for every losing team in the playoffs since the creation of the podium: “(The winning team) came out more aggressive.”
And the first quote from Coach Doc Rivers’ mouth on Saturday: “I thought they just played more aggressive.”
At the next Zoom over, Leonard was saying the same.
But this is a cop for teams that have legitimate title hopes like the Clippers do. They are a deep team with a tremendous balance of depth, star power and veteran experience, and it means they have a large margin for error – probably the largest of any of the remaining teams.
play
0:49
Patrick Beverley is kicked out of the Clippers game 2 against the Nuggets for discussing a late call in defeat.
That’s why the Clippers were briefly to five points in the fourth quarter despite that first quarter swelling, even with Leonard and Paul George eventually pulling a collective 11 of 36 from the field. The Nuggets, ashamed of their defensive effort in Game 1, threw some double teams in their way which were effective.
“We just have to play hard ourselves,” complains Rivers. “They played much stronger than us … it’s amazing that we had a chance.”
The Nuggets are not a team to sleep on. The Utah Jazz can offer a testament to this since their 15-point lead in the third quarter in Game 5 of their quarter-final streak exploded in a shower of Murray jumpers. Jazz has gotten a little too comfortable, and now they will have to spend the next few months and years twitching each time the numbers “3”, “1” and “lead” are put together in one sentence.
Utah gave birth to Denver with that disappointment, and now the Clippers have opened the door for them again. The Clippers have been the best team for seven of their eight quarters so far in this series, but it’s 1-1.
Right there is how the first chapter of a troubled story is written.
“We have to be ready here,” said George, adding another appeal to the annals of this season of Clipper. “There are no plans. It depends on us. But we will be better for Game 3. There are no encouraging speeches for that, it’s the playoffs. We will be ready for the fight and the challenge.”
NBA Playoffs – The Clippers’ past bad habits should have been stopped by now
Throughout this long season, the LA Clippers have been darlings of the league’s keen bettors and intelligentsia, though at times so many fans and even a good percentage of Clippers peers wondered why.
They encouraged injured players to take plenty of time to recover, long insisted as a mantra throughout the season and the load was handled so aggressively that at one point they were fined $ 50,000 by the NBA for breaking rules. procedures in rest Kawhi Leonard.
All of these are considered respectable tactics nowadays, especially for a team with fragile stars. But it also seemed to have an unfortunate side effect: the bad habit of procrastinating the Clippers. They like to leave their best game for later.
They roamed frequently throughout the season, fueling the Los Angeles Lakers and their ferocious pursuit of the number 1 seed.
In January, a tired Montrezl Harrell harangued teammates to wake up and said “We are not a great team”.
In February it was Leonard, in a rare plume of emotion, dismayed by another malaise when he commanded, “I mean, now. The time is now,” when asked when the Clippers would start acting like their resume.
After all these months, it is still happening. This time, Saturday in Game 2 against the Denver Nuggets.
That doesn’t detract from the 110-101 win in Denver: they earned it and scored 54 combined points from Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
But this game was centered around the first 12 minutes, in which Denver played with much more energy and commitment than the Clippers which resulted in conceding 44 points and creating a 19-point deficit.
It has long been said that the most desperate team often wins the playoffs. It is the origin of the most important quote for every losing team in the playoffs since the creation of the podium: “(The winning team) came out more aggressive.”
And the first quote from Coach Doc Rivers’ mouth on Saturday: “I thought they just played more aggressive.”
At the next Zoom over, Leonard was saying the same.
But this is a cop for teams that have legitimate title hopes like the Clippers do. They are a deep team with a tremendous balance of depth, star power and veteran experience, and it means they have a large margin for error – probably the largest of any of the remaining teams.
0:49
Patrick Beverley is kicked out of the Clippers game 2 against the Nuggets for discussing a late call in defeat.
That’s why the Clippers were briefly to five points in the fourth quarter despite that first quarter swelling, even with Leonard and Paul George eventually pulling a collective 11 of 36 from the field. The Nuggets, ashamed of their defensive effort in Game 1, threw some double teams in their way which were effective.
“We just have to play hard ourselves,” complains Rivers. “They played much stronger than us … it’s amazing that we had a chance.”
The Nuggets are not a team to sleep on. The Utah Jazz can offer a testament to this since their 15-point lead in the third quarter in Game 5 of their quarter-final streak exploded in a shower of Murray jumpers. Jazz has gotten a little too comfortable, and now they will have to spend the next few months and years twitching each time the numbers “3”, “1” and “lead” are put together in one sentence.
Utah gave birth to Denver with that disappointment, and now the Clippers have opened the door for them again. The Clippers have been the best team for seven of their eight quarters so far in this series, but it’s 1-1.
Right there is how the first chapter of a troubled story is written.
“We have to be ready here,” said George, adding another appeal to the annals of this season of Clipper. “There are no plans. It depends on us. But we will be better for Game 3. There are no encouraging speeches for that, it’s the playoffs. We will be ready for the fight and the challenge.”
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