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Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and the Los Angeles Clippers had one of the strongest and most surprising seasons in their franchise's history, but none of that will be remembered after they suffered one of the most embarrassing losses in playoff history in Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets. Even President Lawrence Frank admitted it was a gutting defeat.
The Clippers trailed Game 7 by as many as 35 points in what was a brutal end to a season that should've had everyone from the staff to fans feeling proud.
Clippers President Lawrence Frank calls Game 7 loss, “uncharacteristic and embarrassing”
The Clippers actually led Game 7 for 11 minutes and 30 seconds, all of which game in the first half. The Nuggets then scored 17 straight points less than four minutes into the 3rd quarter, turning an eight point lead to 25 and never looking back.
Things got worse, as Denver increased their lead to as many as 35 points while the Clippers continued to look shellshocked, lifeless, fatigued, and overwhelmed by the moment.
President Lawrence Frank, who is in New York due to a family medical emergency, met with members of the media inside Intuit Dome over a video conference call on Monday afternoon. It was there that he addressed a number of topics, from the strong regular season to the disappointing postseason. Chief among his comments was calling the Game 7 performance against the Nuggets, “embarrassing and uncharacteristic.”
“There's so many emotions when a season ends, but especially this one because of everything the team and staff invested,” Lawrence Frank said on Monday afternoon. “Going into the playoffs, based on how we finished the season, we all thought had a chance to do something very special, but give Denver a great deal of credit. It wasn't just the brilliance of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, but all their top six players made huge contributions in their wins.
“We definitely felt like we had our opportunities with Game 1 and Game 4, but the series other than Game 7 came down to the slimmest of margins and we came up short. What happened in Game 7 was extremely embarrassing and also uncharacteristic of the determination and resilience we demonstrated all year. We know ultimately, we're judged by what we do in the postseason and we're disappointed with our playoff exit.”
The Game 7 loss was so disappointing that the speechless locker room saw no player outside of Kawhi Leonard speak to media for more than a minute. No player had an explanation for what was displayed.
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Even James Harden, who didn't speak after losses in Games 4 and 5, walked out of Ball Arena without speaking to media following a Game 7 in which he finished with just seven points, five rebounds, and 13 assists on 2-of-8 shooting from the field in 35 minutes of play.
Even head coach Tyronn Lue, who expressed his extreme disappointment at how the final game unfolded in his postgame press conference, walked up to a member of Harden's camp in the back tunnels inside Ball Arena to try and convince him to have Harden speak to the media, to no avail.
“You don't get to this place right away,” Lawrence Frank continued. “The loss is still raw, the season being over is still raw. But when you have to do these postgame and end of season pressers, it does force you to, at least from my perspective, to take myself and remove myself and put myself like, okay if I was speaking to you a month from now, how would I feel about the season? Because it’s different than how I feel about it right now. Right now, we all still want to be playing. Our players are embarrassed about game seven, and they’re really, really upset that we lost the series. As well as our coaches.”
Frank went on to address a few of the positives from the Clippers' season, such as reaching 50 wins when most oddsmakers had them in the 36-38 win range while seeing almost every individual on the roster maximize their potential.
“When I have to reflect back and we look back, there still is a great deal of pride that this season’s produced a lot of positive joy and vibes with how we played and what it does for us going forward. The other thing is it’s rare that you can sit here at the end of the season and say every rotation player made the most of his opportunity, but that’s how we feel about this season.
“So we feel really good about our core, and we expect to be a serious threat again next season. With Kawhi, James, Zu and Norm in a lineup, we were 21-5. Acquiring [Bogdan Bogdanovic] at the deadline gave us a boost. You know, I think looking at next year that we can be better. With more games from Kawhi, internal improvement like we saw from Norman and Zu, and Amir and some of our other guys. Along with some of the things, upgrades that we can make. Whether it’s via free agency or trades. This season was also a memorable one.”
The Clippers now enter an offseason with few questions, if any. James Harden and Nicolas Batum both have player options to decide on. Both players are expected back on the team next season, and then the Clippers will look to fill out the rest of the roster from there.
