It’s unimaginable to imagine any staff has ever tried NOT to win a championship, however that’s precisely what three-time Sixth Man of the 12 months Lou Williams seemingly implied when explaining how the Clippers blew a 3-1 sequence result in the Denver Nuggets within the second spherical of the 2020 NBA playoffs. As everybody recollects, after a protracted delay within the 2019-20 season due the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortened near the common season to find out seeding and the playoffs all befell within the fan-less Orlando Bubble later that summer season, with an prolonged keep in a lodge (a number of months for some groups), strict guidelines, and separation from family and friends.
It wasn’t simple for anybody, together with Williams (who needed to sit out the primary two video games of the seeding spherical for violating protocols), however that’s not the last word excuse he gave for the Clippers blowing the franchise’s greatest probability at its first championship. As a substitute, he claimed that, already not comfortable to be there, they began listening to rumblings that nobody would respect that championship due to the circumstances, so that they took their foot off the gasoline.
Williams has rightfully been roasted for this sizzling take, with most expressing disbelief that any staff would purposefully lose a championship and calling it one of many lamest excuses ever. (And it’s not like Doc Rivers doesn’t have a horrid status for shedding when his groups get to win no. 3 in a playoff sequence in any case.) Much more so, nobody has ever claimed the 2020 title is illegitimate as a result of everybody suffered by the identical circumstances (followers included). The Lakers have proudly accepted the trophy, and a few even used it as the explanation Anthony Davis had lastly surpassed Tim Duncan as a participant (aspect be aware: he didn’t and by no means will).
That being stated, if there’s even an oz. of reality to Williams’ phrases that the Clippers let outdoors noise get into their heads and determined the stigma that may allegedly be hooked up to the 2020 championship made it not price it, then all of the extra credit score ought to go to the 1999 Spurs: the primary staff to win a championship underneath uncommon circumstances.
Following a lockout, the 1998-99 season didn’t begin till January, and the common season solely lasted 50 video games earlier than the playoffs started. After a 6-8 begin, the Spurs would go on to win 31 of their remaining 36 video games earlier than operating roughshod by the playoffs, together with sweeping the center two rounds and placing the eighth seeded Knicks away in 5 for his or her first championship. Uncommon? Sure. Spectacular? Additionally sure, however that didn’t cease figureheads like Phil Jackson from claiming the championship deserved an asterisk. Regardless, that didn’t get within the Spurs’ heads, and if something, that championship might have been very important to conserving Tim Duncan a yr later as a result of with out him, the Spurs don’t win 4 extra (making all of the asterisk discuss null and void within the course of). I’d say it was price it.
In the meantime, the Clippers are nonetheless desperately making an attempt to get that elusive first title underneath the identical ageing, injury-prone core of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. They added Russell Westbrook to the combination final season and only in the near past traded all their depth away for an out-of-shape James Harden who thinks he’s “the system”, and to this point all they’ve to point out for it’s an 0-5 file and no signal {that a} 1999 Spurs-like turnaround is coming.
So if what Williams says is true, and the Clippers shied away from an uncommon championship and have by no means actually recovered since, all of the extra credit score goes to the 1999 Spurs for embracing it and truly constructing off championship no. 1.
Or, you understand, it may simply be the excuse to finish all excuses, and Williams ought to perpetually be ignored from right here on out (and presumably banned for all times by the Clippers).
