NBA playoffs: Clippers break curse in most unpredictable way possible to reach first-ever conference finals

In case you didn’t develop up round L.A., you may’t really perceive.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been synonymous with shedding. They made the playoffs simply 4 instances of their first 33 seasons after relocating from Buffalo to Southern California. Sub-.200 successful percentages turned a regularity. Blowing seemingly insurmountable leads turned anticipated. Gamers like Matt Fish, Pooh Richardson and Keith Closs turned punchlines. In case you requested an L.A. basketball fan whether or not they rooted for the Lakers or the Clippers, there was just one acceptable response: uncontrollable laughter.

Even when the franchise appeared to have turned the nook with the addition of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and JJ Redick, accidents, unhealthy luck — the so-called Clipper Curse, if you’ll — served as an impenetrable, invisible barrier stopping the group from advancing previous the second spherical.

Final postseason’s unfathomable collapse wherein they blew a 3-1 result in the Denver Nuggets within the bubble was the predictable extension of the Clippers’ woes, and the inevitability of failure solely grew extra highly effective when it was introduced that Kawhi Leonard would miss Video games 5 and 6 in opposition to the Utah Jazz as a result of a doubtlessly season-ending knee damage.

However with Friday’s unbelievable, nearly not possible 131-119 Sport 6 comeback victory over the Utah Jazz, the 50-year buildup of angst, helplessness and desperation got here crumbling all the way down to the Staples Heart ground. For the primary time in franchise historical past, the Los Angeles Clippers are going to the Western Convention finals.

The curse is damaged.

It’s solely becoming that the win got here in entrance of a capability crowd on the primary evening because the daybreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that such numbers have been permitted.

“This was my first time experiencing a crowd like this, you recognize, since I’ve been a Clipper,” mentioned Paul George, a Southern California native who put up 28 factors, 9 rebounds and 7 assists within the greatest win in franchise historical past. 

“Simply the entire evening was particular, to have the ability to be on this area and to really feel that playoff ambiance in entrance of my hometown, my pals, my household. So many essential individuals in my life are on this constructing, and so it was only a particular evening, a particular evening. You felt it — the cheers, the thrill. You felt the monkey off of the Clippers’ again when it comes to getting out of the second spherical.”

Over the course of fifty years, that monkey on the Clippers’ collective again had grown bigger than King Kong.

This being the Clippers, nonetheless, there’s no method issues may have gone based on plan. They fell down 0-2 in every of their first two playoff collection. They entered Video games 5 and 6 with out their greatest participant — the previous Finals MVP who selected L.A. to alter the fortunes of the league’s most ill-fated franchise. They fell behind by 25 factors within the second half of Sport 6 in opposition to the Jazz, and have been led to victory by a career-high 39 factors and 7 3-pointers from Terance Mann — the forty eighth decide within the 2019 draft who’d scored a complete of 25 factors within the first 5 video games of the collection — whereas receiving huge shot after huge shot from Reggie Jackson, who signed for the minimal in December after failing to get a extra profitable provide from any of the opposite 29 groups within the league.

Patrick Beverley, the longest-tenured Clipper on the roster, had fallen fully out of the rotation within the first spherical in opposition to Dallas, solely to sink three gigantic 3-pointers within the fourth quarter to assist eradicate the Jazz.

“Particular. Particular. Particular,” mentioned Beverley, who’s in his fourth season with the Clippers. “Celebrating simply to get within the playoffs, seeing lots of people come and go, a whole lot of pals, and to be with a company like this, to complete a recreation like this, to make historical past, is particular, man. As a result of I, you recognize, blood, sweat and tears into this s—, accidents, pals getting traded, ups and downs of basketball — to be the final man standing and form of write historical past is particular, man, very particular.”

We will discuss Xs and Os all we would like — how coach Tyronn Lue revamped his rotation on the fly, how the Clippers remodeled three-time Defensive Participant of the Yr Rudy Gobert right into a legal responsibility for Utah, how they modified up their defensive schemes in opposition to All-Star Donovan Mitchell. However generally as a fan of any sport, it’s a must to overlook all that and simply admire the willpower, grit, ability and enthusiasm from a group that had each purpose to pack it in and save up for Sport 7.

There’s a scene from the Nineties cult basic movie, “Gattaca,” wherein Vincent, performed by Ethan Hawke, is miraculously beating his genetically superior youthful brother, Anton, in a nighttime swimming race deep into the steaming ocean. As Anton fears he and his brother have gone too far and received’t be capable to make it again to shore, he shouts to his brother, “How are you doing this, Vincent?”

“You wanna know the way I did it? That is how I did it, Anton,” Vincent replies. “I by no means saved something for the swim again.”

That was the Clippers on Friday evening, pushing the franchise previous its earlier limits with no concern for the results. We’ve talked about Paul George placing the ghosts of earlier playoff failures behind him. We’ve talked in regards to the newfound toughness and resilience that this iteration of the Clippers has demonstrated whereas embracing an underdog mentality. We’ve talked about how the entrance workplace’s roster-building round its superstars — including items like Mann, Jackson, Nicolas Batum and Marcus Morris — has led to postseason success.

However in the end to make historical past, you may’t save something for the swim again. That’s precisely the strategy the Clippers have taken, and so they’ll proceed swimming into uncharted waters as they put together for his or her first convention finals recreation on Sunday in opposition to the Phoenix Suns.

“Our group, I simply let you know, they only don’t give up. They maintain combating and competing, and I believe our followers see that this yr,” Lue mentioned after the Sport 6 win. “We by no means gave in, by no means pointed a finger. By no means pointed the blame on another person. We appeared within the mirror and we owned it and moved on. It was a complete group effort all season lengthy, all playoffs lengthy — totally different rotations, starters not taking part in, starters taking part in … It’s a complete group effort and we’re all attempting to win, and our group is keen to do no matter it takes to win.”