We now continue our series exploring why Chris Paul has never made a conference finals.
(2011-12 Los Angeles Clippers, 40-26, lost conference semis 0-4 against San Antonio): Lob City is born. This is notable because everybody got tired of Ralph Lawler yelling “oh me oh my” and “the lob THE JAM” very quickly. At this point, Chris has got to be wondering if he’s ever going to get to play with a shooting guard who isn’t totally mediocre. Randy Foye? Nick Young? In fairness to Young, he did contribute to that insane comeback win against the Grizzlies in the playoffs, but also in fairness to Young, he’s not the kind of player who has ever helped a team win in the long term. There’s also a big what-if scenario looming over this season: what if the Clippers didn’t trade their first-overall pick for Mo Williams the previous year? By now, Chris probably would have run out of room on his hand for rings.
(2012-13 Los Angeles Clippers, 56-26, lost first round 2-4 against Memphis): Chris matches the win total from that one good year the Hornets had, cementing his place as the league’s best PG. With the decline of Rajon Rondo and Deron Williams, and with Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, and Damian Lillard not there yet, it wasn’t even a contest. He also got to finally play with a good SG. No, we’re not talking about Jamal Crawford. We’re talking about Willie Green. Such a poignant reunion! So many tears! People forget how dominant the CP/WG combo was in the 2010-11 season. However, it was not dominant enough to avoid getting taken down by the Grizzlies, who were also 56-26 that year. Some people will try to tell you that a Grizzlies-Clippers rivalry was born this year, but those people are wrong. Two encounters in two straight playoffs does not a rivalry make.
(2013-14 Los Angeles Clippers, 57-25, lost conference semis 2-4 against OKC): This team was so good that they reached the fabled “lure savvy vets who are ring-chasing” stage of their metamorphosis. Stephen Jackson, Antawn Jamison, Danny Granger, and Hedo Turkoglu didn’t exactly contribute to wins, but they did contribute to the perception that the Clippers were a legit contender. We can also say definitely that Chris got to play with another superstar in Blake Griffin, who’s like an athletically souped-up David West with a flatter jumpshot and way more slam dunks. Chris took a backseat in the scoring department, especially with the late addition of J.J. Redick. Unfortunately, a team with Byron Mullens on it is doomed to failure, and the Clippers lost to one of the West’s many other superteams in the playoffs. After the series is over, Chris secretly requests a trade to the East, but nobody listens to him.
(2014-15 Los Angeles Clippers, 56-26, lost conference semis 3-4 against Houston): The second year in a row that the Clippers have the best offensive rating in the league and the eighth year in a row that Chris is an all-star. Unfortunately, the Clippers’ bench woes continued unhindered; Byron Mullens was replaced with Spencer Hawes, who was supposed to be a “stretch five” but instead was just a “suck five”. It was also around this time that Jamal Crawford stopped contributing positively on the court, but this was the dark age of the NBA when every coach and fan bought into the stupid “sixth man chucker off the bench” meme, so he got to chuck as much as he wanted off the bench. When the Clippers choked away a 3-1 lead against the Rockets in the semis, Crawford is the one who I directly blamed. Chris did everything he could. That’s actually a recurring theme here. Chris always showed up to playoff series (except when he got swept by the Spurs in 2012, he didn’t really show up there), but his teammates often didn’t.
(2015-16 Los Angeles Clippers, 53-29, lost first round 2-4 against Portland): It was pretty clear this season that the Clippers weren’t contenders. It was either the Spurs or the Warriors. That would still be true even if Griffin didn’t tear up his quads and then break his hand while punching a dude. The Clippers panic-traded for Jeff Green late in the season to beef up the Wes Johnson/Paul Pierce SF rotation, which of course didn’t work because Jeff Green can only be good for a fourth of the games he plays. Chris was still a beast and DeAndre Jordan strengthened his case for “top five center” by catching endless lobs, but Doc Rivers the GM-Coach again ensured that the bench was well-stocked with garbage, so the team was doomed from the outset. It should be noted that Chris was still clearly a top-ten player this year.
DTB’S CONCLUSIVE CONCLUSION: Chris Paul is not a loser. He has routinely been the one dragging his team through the playoffs. The real losers are his GM’s who continue to surround him with middling/overrated/washed-up/injury-prone talent. Chris is also a victim of playing in a conference that has always had two or three superteams at all times.
QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION: Has Blake Griffin already peaked?