Los Angeles Clippers: 5 Overreactions To Avoid

1. “Chris Paul And Blake Griffin Can’t Win In The Playoffs”

Ahh yes, the hottest of all hot takes that somehow became a lasting narrative.

First of all, let’s get the Blake Griffin thing out of the way first. The Flyin’ Lion averaged 25.5 points, 12.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game in the playoffs, was the best player in the postseason and was rightfully drawing comparisons to Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and LeBron James.

Did he look timid in fourth quarters? Yes. Did he shrink from the moment in Game 6 by looking to pass too much? Yes. And was his defense lazy in Game 7? Yes. But the dude was visibly spent at that point in yet another seven-game series with no bench support. He’s 26 years old, he made a massive leap this postseason and it was only his fourth playoff appearance. He’ll be fine.

Chris Paul’s playoff legacy is a tad more complicated.

One image stands out to me when we start talking about Chris Paul’s playoff legacy. With DeAndre Jordan at the foul line and the Clippers trailing by eight with 1:25 to play in Game 7, CP3 jumped all over Dwight Howard‘s back on the rebound to intentionally foul him and keep the clock frozen:

The play itself was hilarious; here was the 6’0″ Chris Paul repeatedly jumping up and down on a seven-footer’s back like an annoying little terrier trying to make friends with a St. Bernard, while Howard simply held him back with his superior size and strength.

But the play also represented CP3’s entire career in a way. In this metaphor, Dwight Howard was the postseason, and try as hard as he might with all his intelligence, talent and passion Chris Paul just couldn’t get over this massive obstacle.

If you do about five seconds of research, you’ll see that CP3 is elite in the postseason, elevating his game to try and lead his team to victory time and time again. And yet, this disturbing narrative about him never making a conference finals appearance continues to ring true.

To sum up Chris Paul’s performance in the playoffs, let alone his overall legacy, on this shortcoming alone would be foolish. It was only a few weeks ago we were gleefully declaring this narrative dead after CP3 downed the defending champs with an uber-clutch Game 7 game-winner over Tim Duncan.

The responsibility of choking away a 3-1 series lead falls on everybody. So why does Chris Paul — who averaged 22.1 points, 8.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game in the playoffs while posting .503/.415/.941 shooting splits — get all the blame?

I will admit that it doesn’t look good that the Clippers started 3-1 with CP3 out or somewhat limited by his hamstring injury. That Game 6 collapse was atrocious, even if he did finish with 31 points and 10 assists.

And after last year’s Game 5 calamity against the Oklahoma City Thunder, it’d be easy to start buying into these narratives. My advice: don’t do it just yet.

As much as his lack of playoff success will affect his lasting legacy, it shouldn’t be the primary determinant of how we remember him either. We can no longer ignore CP3’s lack of a Finals or even a conference finals appearance, nor can we forget that he became the face of the ninth team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 series lead.

But let’s not forget that we’re still talking about a future Hall of Famer, one of the fiercest competitors the league has ever seen and quite possibly the greatest pure point guard since the days of Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson.

The Clippers should have finished this series off, but did Paul EVER have the better team in his days in New Orleans? And other than that first round series with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2013 and this year’s meltdown, was a Chris Paul team EVER favored do go anywhere in the postseason? Basketball is a team game, people. It takes depth to win championships, and that was something the Clippers severely lacked.

With 65 playoff games and not a single conference finals appearance, Chris Paul’s mistakes in the playoffs are obviously going to stand out more than his triumphs. But his career isn’t over and it’s worth noting that he’s already led the Clippers to four playoff appearances in his four years in Los Angeles.

In the organization’s 35 years before his arrival, the Clippers had made the playoffs a grand total of four times.

From the Clippers’ lack of depth to Griffin freezing up to J.J. Redick missing wide open threes, everything went wrong for the Clips in this series. I mean, come on, Josh Smith was draining step-back threes! It took a 40-15 fourth quarter for the Rockets to storm back in Game 6! And James Harden was on the bench! What are the odds of those things ever happening again?

At 30 years old, Chris Paul’s best days may be behind him. But don’t forget that he was an MVP candidate this year who led the Clippers past the defending champs and had his team on the brink of its first ever conference finals. He knows what needs to be done.

Now it’s just a matter of keeping the core together and actually DOING it to finally stomp out one of the NBA’s most annoying and long-running over-reactionary narratives.

Next: Golden State Warriors: Western Conference Finals Preview

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