Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and the Los Angeles Clippers had one of many strongest and most shocking seasons of their franchise’s historical past, however none of that will probably be remembered after they suffered probably the most embarrassing losses in playoff historical past in Recreation 7 towards the Denver Nuggets. Even President Lawrence Frank admitted it was a gutting defeat.
The Clippers trailed Recreation 7 by as many as 35 factors in what was a brutal finish to a season that ought to’ve had everybody from the workers to followers feeling proud.
Clippers President Lawrence Frank calls Recreation 7 loss, “uncharacteristic and embarrassing”
The Clippers truly led Recreation 7 for 11 minutes and 30 seconds, all of which sport within the first half. The Nuggets then scored 17 straight factors lower than 4 minutes into the third quarter, turning an eight level result in 25 and by no means trying again.
Issues bought worse, as Denver elevated their result in as many as 35 factors whereas the Clippers continued to look shellshocked, lifeless, fatigued, and overwhelmed by the second.
President Lawrence Frank, who’s in New York as a consequence of a household medical emergency, met with members of the media inside Intuit Dome over a video convention name on Monday afternoon. It was there that he addressed quite a few subjects, from the sturdy common season to the disappointing postseason. Chief amongst his feedback was calling the Recreation 7 efficiency towards the Nuggets, “embarrassing and uncharacteristic.”
“There’s so many feelings when a season ends, however particularly this one due to the whole lot the staff and workers invested,” Lawrence Frank mentioned on Monday afternoon. “Going into the playoffs, primarily based on how we completed the season, all of us thought had an opportunity to do one thing very particular, however give Denver quite a lot of credit score. It wasn’t simply the brilliance of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, however all their prime six gamers made large contributions of their wins.
“We undoubtedly felt like we had our alternatives with Recreation 1 and Recreation 4, however the sequence aside from Recreation 7 got here all the way down to the slimmest of margins and we got here up brief. What occurred in Recreation 7 was extraordinarily embarrassing and likewise uncharacteristic of the dedication and resilience we demonstrated all yr. We all know in the end, we’re judged by what we do within the postseason and we’re disillusioned with our playoff exit.”
The Recreation 7 loss was so disappointing that the speechless locker room noticed no participant outdoors of Kawhi Leonard communicate to media for greater than a minute. No participant had an evidence for what was displayed.
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Even James Harden, who did not communicate after losses in Video games 4 and 5, walked out of Ball Enviornment with out talking to media following a Recreation 7 through which he completed with simply seven factors, 5 rebounds, and 13 assists on 2-of-8 taking pictures from the sphere in 35 minutes of play.
Even head coach Tyronn Lue, who expressed his excessive disappointment at how the ultimate sport unfolded in his postgame press convention, walked as much as a enterprise accomplice of Harden’s within the again tunnels inside Ball Enviornment to attempt to persuade him to have Harden communicate to the media, to no avail.
“You do not get to this place straight away,” Lawrence Frank continued. “The loss remains to be uncooked, the season being over remains to be uncooked. However when you must do these postgame and finish of season pressers, it does pressure you to, no less than from my perspective, to take myself and take away myself and put myself like, okay if I used to be talking to you a month from now, how would I really feel in regards to the season? As a result of it’s totally different than how I really feel about it proper now. Proper now, all of us nonetheless need to be taking part in. Our gamers are embarrassed about sport seven, and so they’re actually, actually upset that we misplaced the sequence. In addition to our coaches.”
Frank went on to handle a number of of the positives from the Clippers’ season, reminiscent of reaching 50 wins when most oddsmakers had them within the 36-38 win vary whereas seeing nearly each particular person on the roster maximize their potential.
“When I’ve to replicate again and we glance again, there nonetheless is quite a lot of delight that this season’s produced loads of constructive pleasure and vibes with how we performed and what it does for us going ahead. The opposite factor is it’s uncommon which you could sit right here on the finish of the season and say each rotation participant made probably the most of his alternative, however that’s how we really feel about this season.
“So we really feel actually good about our core, and we anticipate to be a severe risk once more subsequent season. With Kawhi, James, Zu and Norm in a lineup, we had been 21-5. Buying [Bogdan Bogdanovic] on the deadline gave us a lift. You understand, I believe subsequent yr that we will be higher. With extra video games from Kawhi, inner enchancment like we noticed from Norman and Zu, and Amir and a few of our different guys. Together with among the issues, upgrades that we are able to make. Whether or not it’s through free company or trades. This season was additionally a memorable one.”
The Clippers now enter an offseason with few questions, if any. James Harden and Nicolas Batum each have participant choices to resolve on. Each gamers are anticipated again on the staff subsequent season, after which the Clippers will look to fill out the remainder of the roster from there.