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Channel: Mark Heisler – San Gabriel Valley Tribune
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Heisler: Clippers become an elite team, but it wasn’t easy

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Meanwhile, in Clipper Nation, it’s the best of times and the worst of times, as well as the most recent of times that I copped a lead from “A Tale of Two Cities.”

Yes, this is about the local NBA teams, both elite contenders at the same time for the first time.

No, for once it’s not about the Lakers, who remain the local glamour entry, not to mention that of the league.

Yes, it’s about the Clippers, the earnest little team in town with the niche audience, now No. 2 in the West.

No, the Clippers aren’t the favorites they were before the season when 80 percent of coaches, executives and scouts in an ESPN poll picked them to win the Western Conference title.

Yes, this could be the first time they play the Lakers in the playoffs.

No, it’s not the likeliest scenario with both teams needing to hack their way to the Western finals if the Lakers remain No. 1 and the Clippers No. 2.

Yes, the Clippers are meshing.

No, it hasn’t been easy.

As Coach Doc Rivers mused recently, there are all sorts of seasons, from ones where nothing goes right, like the Clippers in the Sports Arena days … to ones where you run away and hide like Doc’s 2007-08 Celtics, who went 66-16 and beat the Lakers in a one-sided six-game Finals. Doc remembers watching newly acquired Kevin Garnett throw himself around the court in the first exhibition and telling assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, “We’re going to win it this year, I’m sure of it.”

Then there were Doc’s Celtics who staggered down the stretch in 2010, dropping to No. 4 in the East … but still made the Finals and led the Lakers by 13 points in the second half of Game 7 before losing.

Now come Doc’s Clippers, who have spent half a season laying off any sense of disappointment by noting their injuries … even if they signed up for that, knowing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George had health issues.

When healthy, they’re formidable: 24-7 with both Kawhi and Paul for a 63-win pace, just behind the Lakers’ 64-win pace.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, there were 31 other games, in which they went 19-12 … a disappointment to all concerned that tested their system.

There have been some flops, like their two home losses to Sacramento … the 142 points they gave up in a loss to Minnesota that Rivers called “an awful, awful effort” … the 140 they gave up in a home loss to Memphis, sending Doc over the edge again (“I get all the injuries and no practice and all that, but, having said that, that doesn’t change your spirit. … They came to win the game. We showed up and we thought we were just going to win.”)

“Spirit” had officially become an issue. After the Jan. 4 loss to Memphis, Montrezl Harrell was asked if there were issues in their dressing room.

“I don’t know, brother,” he said. “I don’t know. And that might be another problem right there.”

It was another problem, all right … or, at least, talking about it was … with Rivers reportedly chastising Harrell for discussing internal issues.

Of course, Doc, the league’s master communicator, is used to speaking for his team with his ability to mesmerize entire press rooms and his players picking up the party line.

(It’s a game they play with the press, with players instructed to say polite nothings. Even knowing we’re getting the fluffy treatment, we put their quotes in our stories … which is why you’re always reading that every team has exemplary character, because they tell us they do.)

Trez’s surprising candor, on the other hand, was potentially nuclear … a mainstay of last season’s overachieving team questioning the spirit of this one … and, by implication, the contribution of Leonard and George.

Of course, acquiring Kawhi and PG had been an incredible coup, health issues or no health issues, with the Lakers hotly pursuing both of them, George in 2018 and Leonard last summer.

Leonard arrived with an understanding concerning his “load management,” continuing as the only NBA player held out of all back-to-backs.

George missed the first four weeks after surgery on his shoulders. With the injuries he has suffered since, he would play only 60 games if he doesn’t miss any more … unlikely as that looks with Rivers limiting his minutes to 27 per game since the All-Star break, nine fewer than last season in OKC.

Evolving as the Clippers are, their lineup has been in a constant state of change. With their vaunted front office beating everyone to 3-point shooter Marcus Morris at the trade deadline, their current starters (Leonard, George, Morris, Ivica Zubac, Patrick Beverley) didn’t make their first appearance together until Feb. 24 … but they have since gone 5-0, winning by an average of 17 points.

“Chuck Daly used to say all the time, ‘Sometimes you have to go get your team,’” Rivers said of the former Detroit Pistons coaching great. “‘Sometimes you have to wait on your team. Sometimes you have to know the difference. This group has not been together. It just hasn’t. …

“Like I told our guys, ‘It’s happened and so what? The key is being ready, trying to win as many as you can and be ready when it really counts because that’s all we can do.

“That’s the hand we have been dealt and we have to play that hand. And we can play that hand and still win it.”

Actually, Trez’s blowoff suggests the key is keeping them together while sorting out their issues and winning enough games to change their ambiance.

Nevertheless, Doc is right. It’s not how you start, or how you look at midseason. It’s certainly not about which local team looks more impressive during the regular season to impress local fans.

Like the lordly Lakers, the earnest little Clippers’ challenge is still up ahead and awaiting them.


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