Just about all quarters, including those directly involved in developments, marked the Clippers as All Too Ready For Prime Time once Kawhi Leonard and Paul George came on board last year. Either or both coveted free agents had an opportunity to move to the Lakers, but instead saw fit to settle in as crosstown rivals; they were bent on marking their own path, distinct from that of LeBron James, in order for their accomplishments to be viewed from perspectives devoid of the shadow of their generation’s best player by far. Which was all well and good, save for one thing: they needed to carve the accomplishments first.
Perhaps in another time, Leonard and George could well have seen their grand plans come to fruition. Unfortunately for them, a confluence of events that saw the National Basketball Association suspend the 2019-20 season, and then restart it in a bubble environment due to the novel coronavirus pandemic changing the dynamics of competition. And, in the end, after having been tried and measured, they were found terribly wanting. In retrospect, the indicators were there for all and sundry to see; their monumental collapse was predated by glaring warning signs that their undeniable talent base masked on occasion, but ultimately served to shine the spotlight on in the face of its notable underachievement.
Indeed, the Clippers were exposed by the gritty Nuggets as less — make that far less — than the sum of their parts. In the wake of the worst beatdown suffered by prohibitive favorites in pro hoops annals spanning three-quarters of a century, they spewed reasons that carried truth. They lost significant man-hours that told on their chemistry, and especially under pressure inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. When push came to shove, they folded. Said head coach Doc Rivers, “we didn’t meet our expectations, clearly. Because if we had, in my opinion, we’d still be playing.” And it wasn’t simply due to their elimination from contention, the third such time he coughed up a three-to-one series lead from the sidelines. It was the way they bowed out that stunned even casual observers.
For the record, the Clippers have company. In recent memory, the 2016 Warriors, who lost Games Five, Six, and Seven of the Finals to the underdog Cavaliers, come to mind. On the other hand, theirs was inarguably a choke job devoid of valid excuses; they held double-digit leads in each of the contests that could have netted them a conference finals berth, only to bow to the eminently poised Nuggets. They were particularly atrocious in the second half of the rubber match the other day; chaos reigned on both ends of the court, and on the bench as well. They couldn’t stop the bleeding, couldn’t buy a bucket, couldn’t come up with adjustments. In short, they couldn’t be the best version of themselves on which they hung their title hopes. Rivers took the blame in the aftermath, and aptly so. Meanwhile, George couldn’t help but contend that, “internally, we’ve always felt this is not a championship-or-bust year for us.” Sorry, but he can’t be more wrong. Never mind that his was a knee- jerk reaction told with wounds still fresh and disappointment continuing to linger. When he and Leonard were being given the red carpet treatment in the offseason, they were all casting moist eyes on the hardware; they gladly parted with a king’s ransom to assemble the roster conventional wisdom saw as the best-constructed in the league, and they figured to come out on top.
Now, the Clippers have a tight window. Because of their unprecedented meltdown, they have effectively mortgaged the remainder of the decade for just one more crack at the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Leonard and George will be free agents anew next year, and they could well be scrambling for, instead of basking in, respect should their supposed stalwarts walk. And the irony is that success doesn’t guarantee anything; all they need to do is look at the experience of the Raptors after a dramatic title run. They wound up beneficiaries then, and could turn out to be victims by the same token.
In the final analysis, the Clippers have only themselves to blame. They thought they could flip a switch anytime they wanted, and then had no fallback when they couldn’t. And because they foolishly counted dividends before any investment paid off, they have a lot of time on their hands to consider what they can do better through their last great opportunity to win.
ANTHONY L. CUAYCONG has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
