"It wasn't quite as bad as people make it out to be" - Blake Griffin opens up on why the Lob City LA Clippers couldn't win an NBA title
The LA Clippers recently made their first conference finals since the franchise's inception. This comes as a surprise, as the team has had stars like Blake Griffin and Chris Paul play for them in the past. The duo were part of the famous 'Lob City' team that was formed after Chris Paul arrived at the Clippers in 2011.
Despite several efforts, 'Lob City' failed to make it past the second round of the NBA Playoffs. In a recent conversation with JJ Redick and Tommy Alter on 'The Old Man and The Three' show, Blake Griffin spoke about what caused the Clippers to squander those chances.
JJ Redick, who was also a pivotal part of Lob City, heaped praise on the brilliance of the team. While speaking on his show, the guard said:
"Those first two years were two of my favourite groups if not my favourite groups that I have had in the 15 years of my career."
Many would dispute that the team never won a championship because of rumored internal issues between Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. However, the 6-foot-9 forward has come out and claimed that chemistry problems were not the only reason the LA Clippers failed to win an NBA Championship.
While talking about the situation in the Clippers locker room, Griffin said:
"I've said this to people like I don't think publically, but I've said this to people when they ask to me about the LA Clippers. I am in the camp where it wasn't quite as bad as people try to make it out to be. I really don't think it was. Maybe towards the end, when some other things happened. But that's not the reason why we didn't win a championship."
Blake Griffin emphasizes the importance of Chris Paul to the 'Lob City' LA Clippers team
Although there was some tension between Blake Griffin and Chris Paul in the later stages of their Lob City tenure, there is no doubt the two shared mutual respect for each other's game. Chris Paul's famous assists to Blake Griffin remain a favorite in most NBA highlight reels to date. While talking about CP3 on the show, Griffin said:
"We had to play without CP3 for the first two games of the Houston series. When you take him [Chris Paul] off the floor. Now everybody's job has to go up exponentially. Because he did so much for us."
The LA Clippers won the first game and lost the second without Chris Paul. However, the Point God came back in for the remainder of the series and helped the team to two consecutive wins. Holding a 3-1 lead, everyone expected the LA Clippers to progress to the Conference finals. But the team choked and eventually lost 4-3 to the Rockets. Speaking about the Houston series, JJ Redick said:
"I think about it all the time and I was so sure that team was going to win a championship. When that happened, like you're in the moment, this is like Josh Smith is hitting like three step back threes. Brewer's hitting threes, you're kind of like what's going on. You're still like, we're still better than these guys, you know we're going to still win this game, but we don't win the game."
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