Time to wrap this up. To recap, in Part 1 we talked about the fun upstart Clippers of the early 2000’s, and the Clippers’ 2005-06 playoff run. And in Part 2 we talked about the painful (but hopeful) rebuilding years, and the long journey back to the playoffs. And finally in Part 3 we saw the Clippers finally return to the playoffs with the Lob City Era.
When One Door Shuts, Another One Opens
2017-18
After leading the Clippers for their most successful stretch in franchise history, Game 7 of the 2017 playoffs would be the last game that Chris Paul ever played for the Clippers. That summer he agreed to sign with the Houston Rockets, and in order for Chris to get a maximum salary, he requested a sign-and-trade deal. The Clippers obliged and traded Chris for Patrick Beverley, Montrezl Harrell, and Lou Williams (among other pieces).
Blake Griffin was convinced to re-sign to a max contract, after the team showed him a mock jersey retirement and assured him he’d be the new face of the franchise. The Clippers, now with a younger Sixth Man of the Year in Lou, sent out fan favorite Jamal Crawford in a 3-team trade that netted them Danilo Gallinari. The Clippers added a play-making point guard in Milos Teodosic, since starting point guard Patrick Beverley’s calling card was his defense, not offense (though, as we’ve seen, Pat’s offense is pretty underrated).
As if part of their initiation to join the Clippers, both Danilo Gallinari and Patrick Beverley were injured less than a dozen games into the season. Gallo (glute) only played 21 games that season (and nowhere near at a full level in any of them) and Pat (knee) only played 11. And many of the rest of the team, including Blake, all missed games to injury.
Then, in a shocking move, the Clippers traded Blake Griffin to Detroit for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, and league treasure Boban Marjanovic. Many fans saw this as a stab in the back to Blake, while others saw it as a smart decision to get out of a long-term commitment to Blake (who seemed to truly be injury prone); but everyone wondered what the long-term plan was. The Clippers finished the season with a 42-40 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
2018-19
Almost caught up now. 2018-19 was my favorite season. That might seem odd, since the Lob City years were so much more successful, but I loved that season because the expectations were so low, and what was accomplished was so incredible.
With a pair of picks from the 2018 draft, the Clippers selected Jerome Robinson and obtained Shai Gilgeous-Alexander via a draft day trade. They also re-signed Harrell and Bradley, added free agent Mike Scott, and traded Austin Rivers for Marcin Gortat. Fully healthy and slightly reshuffled, the Clippers had a 30-25 record heading into the trade deadline. The Clippers were winning off of a balanced effort, led by Tobias, Gallo, their talented rookie Shai, and Lou Williams off the bench, who would go on to win his 3rd Sixth Man of the Year award. There were two clear weak points in the starting lineup, however: Avery Bradley, who was inexplicably starting every night despite providing no production, and Marcin Gortat, the Clippers’ only conventional center outside of Boban.
At the trade deadline, the Clippers made a number of moves. First, they made yet another shocking move in trading Tobias, Boban, and Scott for Landry Shamet, Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, 2 first round picks, and 2 second round picks. Then they flipped Mike Muscala to the Lakers for Ivica Zubac, and somehow turned Avery Bradley into Garrett Temple and JaMychal Green. Despite trading their top scorer, the Clippers went 18-9 after that point, which is better than they were before the trade.
Despite having no All Stars, no media exposure, no expectations, and 14 different starting lineups (12 featuring rookies), the Clippers managed to snag the 8th seed in the playoffs with a 48-34 record. Their reward? Being matched up against the defending champion Golden State Warriors. If there ever was one, this was truly a David versus Goliath match-up.
In game 1, the star-less Clippers were completely outgunned and lost by 17, as expected. And in game 2, the Clippers found themselves down 31 points to one of the greatest teams ever assembled, also as expected.
🚨🚨🚨FREAK OCCURRENCE ALERT🚨🚨🚨
Finally, one of these things goes our way.
Down 31, the Clippers drank some of Mike’s Secret Stuff and began the greatest comeback in Clipper history, slowly chipping away at the lead, bucket by bucket. With 1:21 remaining, with the Warriors leading 128-126, Kevin Durant set an obvious moving screen and fouled out of the game. Lou Williams got to his spot and drained the fade-away two to tie up the game for the first time since the opening quarter. But as expected of the best team in the NBA, Steph Curry immediately went down and drained a 3-pointer, causing Oracle Arena to erupt with 56 seconds remaining. Lou came right back and nailed another fade-away with 45 seconds left. The Clippers got a stop and with 22 seconds left, had a chance to take the lead. The Warriors doubled Lou, he passed it to Shai, Shai drove and kicked it to Shamet, and Shamet knocked down the biggest 3 pointer of his career, eliciting the greatest BINGO ever heard from Ralph. The Clippers got the stops needed and held on to win the game, stunning the crowd and the rest of the nation.
In games 3 and 4, the Warriors once again out-muscled the Clippers as expected, but in game 5 the Clippers surprised the Warriors for a second time, absorbing Kevin Durant’s 45 points while sealing the victory with huge contributions from Lou, Gallo, and Trezz. But ultimately the Warriors won game 6 and won the series.
Still, the competitive nature of that series put the league on notice: the Clippers, a team with max cap space that summer, was already very good. Without a doubt, I think that if the Clippers had been swept against Golden State, they wouldn’t have landed Kawhi Leonard and Paul George that summer.
2019-20
And now we’re back to the present day. I won’t go into detail about the season we’ve just experienced, or the preceding off-season where we signed Kawhi and PG13—if you’re reading this I’m assuming you were there for that. But hopefully it’s been as enjoyable for you to read this long (long) stroll down memory lane, as it was for me to write.
When I think about this current season, even if it’s already over, I am so grateful, humbled, and happy that we’ve finally got the team we always hoped for. Hope was all we ever really had, what with being the second team in LA and having the cheapest owner in sports. But finally that hope has become a reality, and it’s about time. So with that said, I’ll end this the way we started, with that perfect quote from Pat Bev:
“That’s who we do it for: The people in the back. The blue-collar people who don’t have a lot given to them. Who work for everything they deserve. And that’s what we’re doing right now. We do it for them.”
