On Tuesday, September 15, the Los Angeles Clippers surprised the world by blowing another 3-1 lead. After all their offseason changes, the Clippers still could not hold off the Denver Nuggets, and eventually lost the series three games to 4.
Denver did not hold back in Tuesday’s game 7; they held the Clippers to 89 points while torched the Clippers for 104. Both Clippers’s superstars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, were scoreless in the 4th quarter. Denver, the biggest surprise of the postseason, has now come back from a 3-1 deficit twice in the same year, a first in NBA history. The two stars for the Nuggets stars were on fire with Jamal Murray having a 40-point outburst and standout Center Nikola Jokic having 16 points, 22 rebounds, and 13 assists (nba.com). On the other side, Leonard was held to 14 points, and George was even worse, thus leading the Clippers blowing a 3-1 lead and an early exit from the playoffs.
Since the start of the Playoffs, George, who had been ice-cold, missed almost every shot he attempted. His performance makes you question how he got his nickname, Playoff P. Ever since the playoffs began, Pandemic P has been thrown at him. Clipper coach Doc Rivers was also at fault with his horrible matchups towards the Nugget’s big men. This is the third time a Rivers’ coached team blew a 3-1 lead.
Tuesday’s Clipper performance is not anything new to the NBA world. The Clippers blew a 3-1 lead against the Houston Rockets in 2015. The Clippers have yet to make the conference finals in the NBA. After the game, the media would not stop making memes and jokes about this Clipper team. NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith stated, “Kawhi Leonard – that might be the biggest choke job we’ve seen in NBA history!” (talkbasket.net).
Leonard is the reigning Final’s MVP, which is why Smith’s claim is so powerful. What makes the Clippers choke job even worse is that they were continuously jawing with Nugget’s player the entire series; Clipper forward Marcus Morris was seen telling Nugget’s forward Paul Millsap, “Get ready to go home” (si.com). Not a good idea if you can’t back it up.
Talking trash and then blowing the lead must be very embarrassing for Morris.
In the end, it is the Clippers who must leave the bubble and go home. The Nuggets will face the Los Angeles Lakers tonight for game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
