Post#187 » by Wammy Giveaway » Wed Apr 13, 2022 8:39 pm
Had to think about this a while before writing my thoughts on the game, but I'll sum it up like this:
1. The Glue Incident: Another of Clipper's greatest weaknesses seems to be outside distractions unrelated to basketball. Whenever there's a delay due to an off-the-court interruption, Clippers lose whatever momentum they had when the game started. The second quarter had a woman, an animal rights activist, gluing her hands on the Clipper's side of the court as a form of protest. When play resumed, Wolves instantly went on a run. Sound familiar? In 2010, there was a water-line break in Memphis during a regular season Clippers-Grizzlies game. Clippers were playing well until the break happened, causing a game stoppage. When play resumed, Grizzlies came back from down 13 PTS to win the game.
For some reason, these outside incidents have an uncanny ability to distract the Clippers, as if all attention is to the person who caused the stoppage. They have a Happy Gilmore syndrome, in which the titular character couldn't focus on his celebrity game because of a meaningless heckler, and his inability to tune out his negative aura resulted in him snapping and punching Bob Barker, causing Gilmore to be suspended. This is worse than having the Corpse Bride syndrome; in fact, it's the best of two worlds, and the Clippers fell for it. Tyronn Lue needs to figure out how to keep Clippers in check anytime outside forces come to disrupt their game. Intentional or not, Wolves fed off on the Glue Girl, and some are now calling her the savior of the play-in.
2. A Trap Plan: Clippers won the season series 3-1. The method of their victory was winning three straight, so the fourth game was considered a freebee for the Wolves, a game in which Karl-Anthony Towns did not play. He has trouble with physicality, and only seems to play well when he's going up against a lesser opponent, or lottery team. Chris Finch might have known about Towns's shortcomings, so perhaps he used it as bait. Clippers thought that if they could get Towns fouled out or ejected from the game, they would have automatically won. Their focus on Towns made Clippers forget about the rest of the team, which is what Finch was anticipating and praying for, and it worked. It also would have worked if Morris got ejected from the game (which would have resulted in an automatic loss as Clippers have a losing record when one of their guys is tossed), but Ed Malloy rescinding Morris's tech and instead putting it on Beverley gave the Clippers some life back. But Finch didn't flinch: he stood firm with his bait, and as a result, Clippers got their desired effect, only to run out of ideas to win the game, which allowed Edwards and Russell to take over and steal the win.
3. The One You Loved: Last season, the Clippers were unable to defeat former savior Chris Paul, despite preventing three straight 3-0 leads. The same thing happened again because Patrick Beverley was part of the 2019 Revenge Of The Role Players who came back from down 31 points to stun the Ultimate Warriors in Game 2. They were unwilling to defeat someone they once truly loved, a role player who helped changed the culture and identity after Jerry West demanded Lob City be disbanded. Beverley felt betrayed because Clippers wanted players with high character, no matter how limited they are as basketball players, and all they saw from him was someone who pushed their former savior into the ground as retaliation for being eliminated in the Western Conference Finals. Despite the bitterness of their breakup, it seems that Clippers still miss Chris Paul and wished they had a do-over of their Lob City run. Those past feelings get in the way of business, and while Clipper's emotions got in the way, Beverley didn't hold back, and he made them pay for trading him by defeating them to steal the 7th seed.
Wolves may end up getting a series win because Grizzlies are young and unproven, disregarding their 2nd seed status. This could have been the Clippers right there, a chance to get back into the conference finals as a dark horse. Instead, they now have a do-or-die versus two teams who they have trouble against. Defeating Pelicans means taking them seriously after failing to do so in the regular season, while the Spurs require a career high from a player or franchise to be able to defeat them. Following that, they will be forced into a rematch with former savior Chris Paul, who knows that defeating the Clippers could mean a return to the NBA Finals and a second (if not, last) chance to win a title.
In other words, the Clippers have to settle with being a Cinderella team. And that's, if they want to.
