After defeating the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in a grueling seven game series and cruising to a 3-1 series lead over the Houston Rockets in the second round, the Los Angeles Clippers were finally looking like a true championship contender. Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson even said on Twitter that the Clippers could win the NBA Championship this year.
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Unfortunately for Los Angeles’ other team, they would blow a 19-point lead in a crushing Game 6 loss at home before falling in seven games to the Rockets. After their Game 7 loss, Magic went to Twitter again, this time saying that the Clippers were still the Clippers:
I thought the Spurs taught the Clippers how to win after a tough 7 game series. I was wrong. The Clippers are still the Clippers.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 17, 2015
This series collapse will undoubtedly go down as one of the worst moments in the history of the Clippers franchise and everyone on social media has been reacting to the loss. Despite their recent success, the Clippers have still failed to move past the second round in the playoffs.
As the rivalry between the Lakers and Clippers continues to grow, this loss will be another sticking point as Lakers fans will continually point out the Clippers failure in the playoffs despite the fact that the Clippers have more or less dominated the Lakers head-to-head in recent years.
The Lakers will be looking to make a major upgrade this off-season and one target for the team could be Clippers center DeAndre Jordan who is an unrestricted free agent and would represent exactly the kind of rim-protector Byron Scott would like in the back of his defense. Needless to say, both the Lakers and Clippers could look different next season.
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