Rowan Kavner
PHILADELPHIA – No confetti littered the ground. The champagne bottles were nowhere to be found. Most Clippers didn’t even know what they’d just accomplished.
They clinched a playoff spot with their win against the 76ers, but telling apart Friday night’s postgame scene from any other would’ve been impossible.
“Clinched the what?” Blake Griffin responded when asked about the feat. “Oh, I honestly had no clue.”
That train of thought dominated the Clippers’ locker room.
The Clippers are headed to the playoffs for the fourth straight season, but with that comes a universal belief something more than just a postseason appearance should happen.
“We’ve come a long way as a team, as an organization,” said Matt Barnes. “Our goal is to win a championship. We’re not satisfied with clinching a playoff spot or anything like that. We know we have enough talent to win a championship, and that’s our goal.”
In a loaded Western Conference featuring 10 teams with winning records, it’ll take a lot to not only win the conference, but get out of the first round. The Clippers know that, but they also feel as prepared as ever to take on that challenge.
The Clippers are 10-4 in March. They’ve been one of the top rated offenses in the league all season, and that hasn’t wavered, as the Clippers and Warriors are the only two teams averaging at least 109 points per 100 possessions in the NBA this season. The Clippers’ mark this season’s even slightly higher than last year, when they led the league in the category.
Their defensive effort’s increased exponentially since the All-Star break. They’re only allowing 98.7 points per 100 possessions in their last 15 games, good for the fifth-best mark in the league in that span, and they haven’t lost on the road this year when allowing fewer than 100 points.
“I definitely feel this is the best we’ve been playing as a group heading into the playoffs,” Barnes said. “We need to get Jamal (Crawford) back, get our second unit a little bit more work, but I definitely feel we’re turning the quarter.”
As the Clippers round into form, Griffin likes his team’s chances. He said being part of a group that’s gone to the playoffs four straight seasons for the first time in team history shows the Clippers are building something.
But as much as he likes his team, he doesn’t feel just making the playoffs is something the Clippers should hang their hats on.
“It’s great, but you know, I feel like we kind of always say this about things, but that’s not really our main goal,” Griffin said. “It’s great, it is, we don’t take it for granted, but we’ve got a lot more work to do.”
DeAndre Jordan trekked through three losing seasons before reaching the playoffs. At that point, just getting to the postseason was an accomplishment. But he’s now on a team with Griffin, who’s gone to the playoffs four of his five years with the Clippers, and Paul, who’s gone all four years since he joined the team.
As their successes multiply, so do their expectations for themselves.
“There’s a few teams in the league who get to the playoffs and they consider it a successful year,” Paul said. “For us, we’re playing for more than that. That’s just how it is. Not trying to be ungrateful or anything like that, but we’re playing for a bigger purpose.”
If that bigger purpose plays out the way they hope, the champagne, confetti and celebrations will follow.
“None of that yet,” Rivers said. “But hopefully one point this year we have that. That’d be very nice.”