Lakers’ title marks new low for Clippers, but here’s the potential silver lining由那么爱呢_ 发表在翻译团招工部 https://bbs.hupu.com/fyt-store
This year was supposed to be different. But in the end, the result of the 2019-20 season was one we have seen time and time again throughout NBA history.
Another Lakers title and another Clippers disappointment.
All things considered, this was the Clippers’ nightmare ending to the season. Any scenario that didn’t include them winning their first championship was going to be devastating. But this version — losing in the second round again, blowing a 3-1 series lead again and watching the Lakers win the championship again — is torturous for the Clippers and their fans.
From the moment Los Angeles became the center of the NBA universe back in July of 2019, the Battle for L.A. set the stakes for the season. The Clippers and Lakers weren’t just competing for a championship, but they were competing with each other as well.
The Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George, while the Lakers had just acquired Anthony Davis to team up with LeBron James. The Clippers and Lakers became co-favorites for the 2020 title, depending on who you spoke with around the league and which Las Vegas sportsbook’s odds you sought.
Many considered the seemingly inevitable all-L.A. Western Conference finals matchup to be the true NBA Finals. They were on a collision course: the two best teams in the NBA with the two best star duos and, arguably, the league’s two best players.
It was one franchise trying to reestablish itself as the golden superpower you love to hate and the other franchise fighting to shed decades of pain and embarrassment by finally reaching the mountaintop.
During the regular season (which was anything but regular), that narrative largely held up. The Lakers and Clippers finished as the West’s No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively. Each of their four regular-season matchups came down to the final few minutes and featured the intensity of a playoff game.
There were barbs traded through the media. The Clippers built an advertising campaign taking not-so-subtle jabs at the Lakers’ ethos. Even Leonard joined the fray, declaring that L.A. was now his city in a New Balance commercial. The two franchises competed for Leonard and then went on to compete for Marcus Morris Sr. and Reggie Jackson during the season, with the Clippers coming away victorious three times.
After denying there was animosity brewing between the two sides for much of the decade, it finally felt like both were starting to lean into the turf war, with the score theoretically being settled in the conference finals — or, perhaps, before then. Midway through the Western Conference semifinals, with the Clippers and Lakers each leading their respective series 3-1, the much-anticipated matchup appeared inevitable: LeBron vs. Kawhi. Glamour vs. grit. Lakers vs. Clippers.
But then the Clippers collapsed, losing the next three games to Denver despite leading each by double figures, including second-half double-digit leads in Games 5 and 6. They failed to make the conference finals after their fourth trip to the second round in nine years.
Two weeks later, they mutually parted ways with Doc Rivers. Now, the franchise is conducting a thorough coaching search — the first under owner Steve Ballmer and the first for the vaunted front office — and identifying what went so wrong and how to prevent or address such problems for next season.
The Lakers, meanwhile, held up their end. They advanced past Houston in five games to face the pesky Nuggets in a conference finals matchup no one saw coming. They did what the Clippers couldn’t by dispatching Denver in five games, and then defeated Miami in six games in the NBA Finals to win the Lakers’ record-tying 17th championship on Sunday night.
If you ask the Clippers, they would probably say falling short of winning the title was painful, regardless of who else advanced or won the championship. But watching the Lakers hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy is a different type of suffering. If you gave them truth serum, this was likely their worst-case basketball scenario for the 2019-20 season to end.
The Lakers winning another title during a season in which the Clippers had their best odds to become NBA champs is another low in a franchise history full of them.
The Clippers were supposed to be the gritty defensive team that played together and sacrificed for each other. They were going to win their first championship and establish themselves as L.A.’s franchise of the present and the future. They had the best player in the game.
But that’s not how the 2019-20 season played out. The Clippers now will have to wait a few months before they can restart their pursuit of that elusive first title and winning over the hearts of Los Angeles.
But maybe the adversity and agony from the failure of the season will help the Clippers in the long run (or, for their sake, the short run). There could be a silver lining somewhere in this. In fact, there is plenty to be optimistic about next season.
Even if the Clippers roll out the same rotation next season — which won’t happen, as The Athletic reported in early October — Leonard and George will have gained experience alongside one another for next season and, possibly, beyond.
What’s more, there was a perception around the league that the Clippers were overconfident, a self-belief bordering on arrogant. While that’s certainly disputable — and something the Clippers would deny — that will no longer be the case next season, as the next group will have to carry the weight of this season’s humbling exit.
Multiple Clippers players cited their lack of chemistry and continuity as reasons for their postseason shortcomings, and that excuse shouldn’t apply in 2021. Before factoring in roster additions and a new coach, the Clippers will improve simply through reps and time spent together.
The Clippers have a season’s sample size to work with. The organization will evaluate how players fit alongside Leonard and George, as well as in the context of the type of team it wants to build. It’s clear that the Clippers need better playmaking, 3-point shooting and more versatile defensive cogs.
A new voice in the locker room could unlock the team’s potential on both ends after Rivers couldn’t maximize the offense or defense. Maybe that person will be able to manage the locker room better, too.
As long as the Clippers have this version of Leonard, who posted career-best numbers in multiple categories and was arguably the second-best player in the league when examining the totality of the season, they will contend for championships.
Aside from Leonard, the Clippers’ front office received the recognition it deserved for making difficult, and even unpopular, franchise-altering decisions over recent seasons, with team president Lawrence Frank winning NBA Executive of the Year. Some of the moves might have seemed obvious in retrospect. But how many front offices have the audacity to trade away a franchise player (Blake Griffin) months after re-signing him to a multiyear deal? Or dealing an impending young free agent (Tobias Harris) who was enjoying a career-best campaign? Or actually letting go one of the most successful coaches of all time after repeated postseason disappointments?
The Clippers have made some cold, calculated decisions. And they are typically one step ahead, earning the reputation as one of the best front offices in basketball. They should be trusted to make improvements to the roster, even with limited means in terms of movable contracts, draft picks and young players. Running it back with some tweaks and a new coach should have them positioned as a top-five team once again, with a realistic shot at the 2020-21 championship.
Of course, next season will be more challenging from a competitive standpoint. The field will be even better.
There’s no reason to think the Lakers can’t repeat next season. The Heat, Celtics, Nuggets, Raptors, Jazz and 76ers should all be really good again. The Mavericks could take a leap. The Warriors and Nets could join the contending ranks if their recovering stars return to form.
The Battle for L.A. isn’t going away anytime soon. The two teams are inextricably linked for the time being. A Lakers victory is a Clippers failure, and vice versa.
The Clippers will enter next season as the underdogs in the matchup (as if they weren’t already in a macro sense) rather than the anointed favorites, as many considered them last year. Maybe that works to their advantage and they can rekindle some of the blue-collar attitude they lost this season.
The Lakers will always have the past. They have the present now, too. For now, order has been restored in the basketball universe. After losing some of the tactical battles to the Clippers early, the Lakers emphatically won Round 1 and sit atop the NBA once again.
The Clippers are as close as they’ve ever been, while simultaneously feeling farther than ever.
But if and/or when the Clippers eventually win their first championship, the bitterness of this season — and the many seasons prior — will make the taste of elusive victory even sweeter.
This year was supposed to be different. But in the end, the result of the 2019-20 season was one we have seen time and time again throughout NBA history.
Another Lakers title and another Clippers disappointment.
All things considered, this was the Clippers’ nightmare ending to the season. Any scenario that didn’t include them winning their first championship was going to be devastating. But this version — losing in the second round again, blowing a 3-1 series lead again and watching the Lakers win the championship again — is torturous for the Clippers and their fans.
From the moment Los Angeles became the center of the NBA universe back in July of 2019, the Battle for L.A. set the stakes for the season. The Clippers and Lakers weren’t just competing for a championship, but they were competing with each other as well.
The Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George, while the Lakers had just acquired Anthony Davis to team up with LeBron James. The Clippers and Lakers became co-favorites for the 2020 title, depending on who you spoke with around the league and which Las Vegas sportsbook’s odds you sought.
Many considered the seemingly inevitable all-L.A. Western Conference finals matchup to be the true NBA Finals. They were on a collision course: the two best teams in the NBA with the two best star duos and, arguably, the league’s two best players.
It was one franchise trying to reestablish itself as the golden superpower you love to hate and the other franchise fighting to shed decades of pain and embarrassment by finally reaching the mountaintop.
During the regular season (which was anything but regular), that narrative largely held up. The Lakers and Clippers finished as the West’s No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively. Each of their four regular-season matchups came down to the final few minutes and featured the intensity of a playoff game.
There were barbs traded through the media. The Clippers built an advertising campaign taking not-so-subtle jabs at the Lakers’ ethos. Even Leonard joined the fray, declaring that L.A. was now his city in a New Balance commercial. The two franchises competed for Leonard and then went on to compete for Marcus Morris Sr. and Reggie Jackson during the season, with the Clippers coming away victorious three times.
After denying there was animosity brewing between the two sides for much of the decade, it finally felt like both were starting to lean into the turf war, with the score theoretically being settled in the conference finals — or, perhaps, before then. Midway through the Western Conference semifinals, with the Clippers and Lakers each leading their respective series 3-1, the much-anticipated matchup appeared inevitable: LeBron vs. Kawhi. Glamour vs. grit. Lakers vs. Clippers.
But then the Clippers collapsed, losing the next three games to Denver despite leading each by double figures, including second-half double-digit leads in Games 5 and 6. They failed to make the conference finals after their fourth trip to the second round in nine years.
Two weeks later, they mutually parted ways with Doc Rivers. Now, the franchise is conducting a thorough coaching search — the first under owner Steve Ballmer and the first for the vaunted front office — and identifying what went so wrong and how to prevent or address such problems for next season.
The Lakers, meanwhile, held up their end. They advanced past Houston in five games to face the pesky Nuggets in a conference finals matchup no one saw coming. They did what the Clippers couldn’t by dispatching Denver in five games, and then defeated Miami in six games in the NBA Finals to win the Lakers’ record-tying 17th championship on Sunday night.
If you ask the Clippers, they would probably say falling short of winning the title was painful, regardless of who else advanced or won the championship. But watching the Lakers hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy is a different type of suffering. If you gave them truth serum, this was likely their worst-case basketball scenario for the 2019-20 season to end.
The Lakers winning another title during a season in which the Clippers had their best odds to become NBA champs is another low in a franchise history full of them.
The Clippers were supposed to be the gritty defensive team that played together and sacrificed for each other. They were going to win their first championship and establish themselves as L.A.’s franchise of the present and the future. They had the best player in the game.
But that’s not how the 2019-20 season played out. The Clippers now will have to wait a few months before they can restart their pursuit of that elusive first title and winning over the hearts of Los Angeles.
But maybe the adversity and agony from the failure of the season will help the Clippers in the long run (or, for their sake, the short run). There could be a silver lining somewhere in this. In fact, there is plenty to be optimistic about next season.
Even if the Clippers roll out the same rotation next season — which won’t happen, as The Athletic reported in early October — Leonard and George will have gained experience alongside one another for next season and, possibly, beyond.
What’s more, there was a perception around the league that the Clippers were overconfident, a self-belief bordering on arrogant. While that’s certainly disputable — and something the Clippers would deny — that will no longer be the case next season, as the next group will have to carry the weight of this season’s humbling exit.
Multiple Clippers players cited their lack of chemistry and continuity as reasons for their postseason shortcomings, and that excuse shouldn’t apply in 2021. Before factoring in roster additions and a new coach, the Clippers will improve simply through reps and time spent together.
The Clippers have a season’s sample size to work with. The organization will evaluate how players fit alongside Leonard and George, as well as in the context of the type of team it wants to build. It’s clear that the Clippers need better playmaking, 3-point shooting and more versatile defensive cogs.
A new voice in the locker room could unlock the team’s potential on both ends after Rivers couldn’t maximize the offense or defense. Maybe that person will be able to manage the locker room better, too.
As long as the Clippers have this version of Leonard, who posted career-best numbers in multiple categories and was arguably the second-best player in the league when examining the totality of the season, they will contend for championships.
Aside from Leonard, the Clippers’ front office received the recognition it deserved for making difficult, and even unpopular, franchise-altering decisions over recent seasons, with team president Lawrence Frank winning NBA Executive of the Year. Some of the moves might have seemed obvious in retrospect. But how many front offices have the audacity to trade away a franchise player (Blake Griffin) months after re-signing him to a multiyear deal? Or dealing an impending young free agent (Tobias Harris) who was enjoying a career-best campaign? Or actually letting go one of the most successful coaches of all time after repeated postseason disappointments?
The Clippers have made some cold, calculated decisions. And they are typically one step ahead, earning the reputation as one of the best front offices in basketball. They should be trusted to make improvements to the roster, even with limited means in terms of movable contracts, draft picks and young players. Running it back with some tweaks and a new coach should have them positioned as a top-five team once again, with a realistic shot at the 2020-21 championship.
Of course, next season will be more challenging from a competitive standpoint. The field will be even better.
There’s no reason to think the Lakers can’t repeat next season. The Heat, Celtics, Nuggets, Raptors, Jazz and 76ers should all be really good again. The Mavericks could take a leap. The Warriors and Nets could join the contending ranks if their recovering stars return to form.
The Battle for L.A. isn’t going away anytime soon. The two teams are inextricably linked for the time being. A Lakers victory is a Clippers failure, and vice versa.
The Clippers will enter next season as the underdogs in the matchup (as if they weren’t already in a macro sense) rather than the anointed favorites, as many considered them last year. Maybe that works to their advantage and they can rekindle some of the blue-collar attitude they lost this season.
The Lakers will always have the past. They have the present now, too. For now, order has been restored in the basketball universe. After losing some of the tactical battles to the Clippers early, the Lakers emphatically won Round 1 and sit atop the NBA once again.
The Clippers are as close as they’ve ever been, while simultaneously feeling farther than ever.
But if and/or when the Clippers eventually win their first championship, the bitterness of this season — and the many seasons prior — will make the taste of elusive victory even sweeter.
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