Clippers are stacked this year. No excuses for them at all

[Cocaine80s]

Plus Cp3, Blake, DJ, Crawford, Redick

[inclinerator]

cp3 will lead them to the finals, idk if he will have enough to defeat lerbron tho

[Naero]

Many have reputed the Clippers as underachievers due to their inability to advance past the second round; I'm not one of them.

Considering the fact that they've accomplished it with only one wholly two-way superstar, one-way All-Stars in DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, an overrated supporting cast, and no dependable X-factor, I'd say the Clippers have made respectable outings. It is easy for their fans to be insatiable without more after years of first- and second-round exits; but considering the historically ultra-stacked Western Conference, I'd opine that making the Western Conference—even for a third-seeded team—is closer to overachieving than it is to a predictive standard.

Yes, it was disgraceful that they squandered a 3-1 lead against the Rockets, but you also need to totalize that perspective and contextualize the fact that they overachieved to even land there. The Rockets have been (so far) slow to make defensive adjustments in a series with Kevin McHale at the helm, and the Clippers would've have been the first team to let them climb back out of a 1-3 deficit had it not been for Damian Lillard's landmark series-winning three-pointer last season.

Now that they actually have a respectable bench—and hopefully a veteran mediator in Chuck Hayes to keep the locker-room drama with Lance Stephenson in check—there are indeed no excuses for them not to make a deep playoff run—which I would define as the conference finals at least.

[FreezingTsmoove]

3 olympians on the same team and they might not even make the WCF

[LoneyROY7]

No excuses needed. We got this.

[Gileraracer]

cp3 will lead them to the finals, idk if he will have enough to defeat lerbron tho

LeBron would defeat himself.

Next finals mvp: Dahntay Jones

[G-train]

There was no excuses last season and they had a mental break down.

They had a team 3-1, with arguably 2 top 10 NBA players, basically the DPOY, and solid support in Redick, Crawford, Barnes.

[G-train]

[QUOTE=Naero]Many have reputed the Clippers as underachievers due to their inability to advance past the second round; I'm not one of them.

Considering the fact that they've accomplished it with only one wholly two-way superstar, one-way All-Stars in DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, an overrated supporting cast, and no dependable X-factor, I'd say the Clippers have made respectable outings. It is easy for their fans to be insatiable without more after years of first- and second-round exits; but considering the historically ultra-stacked Western Conference, I'd opine that making the Western Conference

[dhsilv]

There was no excuses last season and they had a mental break down.

They had a team 3-1, with arguably 2 top 10 NBA players, basically the DPOY, and solid support in Redick, Crawford, Barnes.

Last year was a total meltdown and a huge knock on chris paul for his claim of greatest point guard of all time. That said perhaps that spurs series took a lot more out of them than we realized?

BTW I also 100% believe doc is the most overrated coach ever. I honestly think he's awful as a coach, but for some reason he's been placed in the upper half of coaches...

[Young X]

How did the Clippers underachieve last season when everybody and their mother had them losing in the 1st round to the Spurs? Nobody thought they would get past the Spurs. They were the 3rd seed won 56 games and lost to the 2nd seed who won 56 games without homecourt...was the way they ended their season disappointing? Yes, it was extremely disappointing but it wasn't some huge underachievement like people are saying. They went under the radar for the entire season, nobody had them in the WCF going into the playoffs.

[bdreason]

There were no excuses last year. I'm still trying to figure out how they choked so hard to the Rockets.

[Spurs m8]

So you don't think they underachieved, yet losing in 2nd round last season was a disgrace?

Bloke was too busy trying to sound smart tbh

[Clifton]

I hear what others are saying about not blaming the Clippers, they've mostly done well in the post season, etc. etc. You have a point.

But they really need to break through. This is ridiculous. No excuse for losing to the Rockets last year. That was really bad, and it's starting to become a trend. Even if they shouldn't, they're going to start to think of themselves as losers if they fail to make the Finals again.

And the West is still stacked. Will have to deal with OKC as well. But no team out West is clearly better than the Clippers; they're very close together up at the top: San Antonio, Golden State, Clippers; also maybe Rockets and OKC. Any of these 5 teams could make it out of the West and it wouldn't be a surprise. But the Clippers need to do this. Maybe if they honestly lose in the conference Finals because the Warriors or Spurs simply out-play and out-shoot them, fine. But they have to go out strong.

[Dr Hawk]

[senelcoolidge]

Top 3 team in the West. This should be their year. They have a bench which they didn't have last year. Plus they need to be healthy, they had health problems during the season. Their team is deep enough that they can rest guys without too much drop in production. Blake should continue to show his ever improving game. Knuckleheads like Smith and Lance should be more stable being around a tight nit group like the Clippers.