Paul George on Clippers’ Complacency During Playoff Collapse

Paul George says the Clippers’ failure to adjust is to blame for their remarkable playoff capitulation against the Denver Nuggets.

The Clippers began the season as favorites to reach the NBA finals. They ended it in humiliating fashion, blowing a 3 – 1 lead in the second round of the playoffs.

From that position, the Clippers lost three games in a row to the Nuggets and had to watch as city rivals the Lakers won the championship.

As a result, coach Doc Rivers was let go and replaced by former Laker Tyronn Lue. Paul George is hoping that smoother offseason preparations and a new look roster will help LA back to the playoffs.

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“We went up 3-1, we felt like, we’re going to win the next one, we lost. We’re like, cool, we’re up 3-2, we gonna win the next one. We lost,” said Paul George. 

“But during that whole process, we never worked on adjustments. We never worked on what to do differently. We just literally having the same s— happen over and over again. It started to play a trick on you like, man, what’s going on?

Read: Clippers Officially Sign Veteran Forward Nicolas Batum

“We are talking amongst each other like the conversation is, we are going to be all right. The conversation should have been like, nah, we need to change this, we need to switch this up. I don’t think we deserved it. We wasn’t prepared enough going into it. … We didn’t put the work into it. It was kind of just like, yo, we got PG, we got Kawhi [Leonard], Lou [Williams], Trezz [Montrezl Harrell]. We going to be straight; we are going to figure it out.”

This offseason, the Clippers have offloaded Montrezl Harrell, Nicolas Batum and JaMychal Green. So far, they’ve brought in Serge Ibaka and Luke Kennard.