Revisiting the LA Clippers over the last 10 seasons
By Ethan Smith
2015-2017: The Clippers were Dark and Full of Terrors
The Clippers were beginning to become consistent in the regular season, once again winning 50+ and making the postseason as a four seed.
Entering a series against Portland seemed fun. Both teams were evenly matched and the series was slated to be one of the more entertaining ones in the first round.
The Clippers took care of business in the first two games in LA, but the trip to Portland got ugly very quickly. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both sustained injuries in game three and four which left the scoring up to Jamal Crawford, Austin Rivers and J.J. Redick, so things turned south quickly.
The Clippers lost four straight after being up 2-0 on Portland despite valiant efforts from the healthy guys and another season ended in “What ifs?” for LA.
2016 to me was marked by Austin Rivers and how hard he fought against Portland but to now avail as his team just didn’t have the bodies to compete with a deep Portland team.
What was more crazy about this season was that the Clippers likely had a real shot at the WCF and just got hit with the injury bug at the worst time possible.
I gelled these two seasons together because they both ended on a very sour note. The Jazz were the playoff opponent in 2016-2017 and had no business playing with LA in terms of talent, but the Clippers yet again fell short.
The difference this time is that it was the last straw for Chris Paul, who requested a trade from the team and started a new era in LA once again. The Clippers traded Paul to the Rockets for a plethora of players in the form of Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and a 2018 top-three protected first round pick.
Paul’s departure marked the official end of an era in LA for the Clippers and a retool was on the way.