Former Clippers J.J. Redick, Matt Barnes Revisit 2015 Collapse to Houston Rockets
In the wake of the LA Clippers' historic collapse to the Denver Nuggets in the second round of this year's NBA Playoffs, there's been a lot of talk among fans about how similar it felt to the Clippers 2015 collapse to the Houston Rockets.
Not only did both teams blow a 3-1 advantage after coming one win shy of the franchise's first-ever Western Conference Finals appearance, but both were coached by Doc Rivers, who recently signed with the Philadelphia 76ers after his ousting last week.
When former Clippers guard J.J. Redick joined Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on All The Smoke earlier this week, the group broke down what it felt like to live out the meltdown in 2015.
(Discussion begins around 48:45)
"When we're in that freefall with Houston, you can feel it happening," Redick said. "That game, how many times have you thought about the fourth quarter of that game? Just the different plays that happened. Josh Smith hitting three threes, Corey Brewer hitting a couple threes... I remember that Game 7, I was so tired. I think we underestimate how much that San Antonio series took out of us."
Redick also said that he felt the team would lose its mental toughness at times — something that seemed to be an issue for this year's squad as well.
There were multiple times during LA's series with the Nuggets that the team seemed defeated, even before their elimination. After blowing double-digit leads in Games 5, 6 and 7, the Clippers didn't look like they knew how to recover as a group. Instead, the offense got iso-heavy, with the ball ending up in either Paul George or Kawhi Leonard's hands on almost every possession.
Denver didn't have Corey Brewer or Josh Smith, but it did have Michael Porter Jr. and Paul Millsap, who led the charge for the Nuggets when it looked like all hope was lost.
As awful as the 2015 series was, one could easily argue that this season's collapse was much worse. LA should have dominated the Nuggets. The Clippers were favored to win the NBA title almost all year long. But instead, it ended in very familiar fashion.
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