"The playoffs are a single-possession game," Rivers said. "Every single possession, you have to have great focus and you have to be locked in. Today we were not. I thought it was because of all the clutter today. We were upset at the officials, we were upset at everything, instead of turning our anger toward the opponent and focus. Tonight we just didn't have it, but I've got to give them credit. I don't know if we didn't have it or they took it from us. I thought they were very good tonight. They were physical, they moved the ball, so give them a lot of credit."
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Paul, however, did admit the Clippers had to do a better job of getting past calls with which they don't agree and focus on playing their game, which they did not do Wednesday.
"We got to be better," Paul said. "We can't worry about the bad whistles. You start off the game with bad turnovers, and me and the ref get a foul and then I get another one and go to the bench. You could tell it was going to be a long night."
Not only were the Clippers allowing the officials to get the better of them, but Blake Griffin struggled, shooting 5-of-13 from the field for 15 points and grabbing only six rebounds. The player who came in third in MVP voting certainly didn't play like the third-best player in the league on a night when the MVP, Kevin Durant, received his trophy and scored 32 points, with 17 coming in the first quarter.
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"They played hard and physical, but you've got to do it back," Rivers said. "I didn't think we did it back. I thought we weren't very physical tonight or mentally tough tonight either."
Clippers let distractions get best of them
