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Lou Williams detailed how distractions ruined the 2020 Clippers' title hopes: "We had one bad week"
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- Lou Williams detailed how distractions ruined the 2020 Clippers' title hopes: "We had one bad week"
The Los Angeles Clippers entered the Orlando bubble with the second-best record in the Western Conference, behind only their cross-town rivals, the Lakers . With a very talented team led by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George , many expected the Clippers to be one of the favorites to win the championship.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted their continuity, with key players such as Montrezl Harrell , Patrick Beverley , Landry Shamet , Ivica Zubac , and Lou Williams missing time due to COVID-19-Related issues. Despite that, they took a 3-1 series lead against the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs before self-destructing.
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"I think between my situation and between a lot of confusion around the Clippers at that time, we just didn't respond well to the Bubble. We had one bad week. I don't think people realize that. We had one bad week, and it cost us everything. We were 3-1 up on Denver. We gave away three straight games. In that time that we gave away three straight games, we had so many distractions around us. And I'm not gonna make excuses for us. I'm gonna be very clear about that," explained Williams.
Lou Will made a side trip to Magic City
Although, as mentioned earlier, many key players missed time in the Bubble due to COVID-related incidents, Lou Will's absence was interesting and controversial. The Sixth Man Supreme was allowed to go home to Atlanta to attend a funeral.
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But it turned out that he also visited the famous strip club Magic City. Lou claimed he just ordered food there, which nobody believed. He ended up missing the Clippers' first two seeding games because of a longer quarantine period due to his extracurriculars.
Despite having a mediocre 5-3 record in the seeding games, the Clippers were the No. 2 seed in the West. However, after eliminating the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, they blew a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets and were eliminated in the second round.
"What has happened, happened. But if you're asking me in retrospect, what in my opinion was the cause of us not getting there, was the week that we lost. We had a bunch of distractions from a lot of different places, and it just didn't go our way. We were kind of one foot in, one foot out. And the longer we were there, the worse it got, and it just became such an uphill battle for our particular group at that time," he said.
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Doc Rivers said his team was not mentally ready in Orlando
Like Williams, former Clippers head coach Doc Rivers believed that they had what it takes to win it all in the Bubble. However, Doc admitted that while they played good basketball at Disney World, there were a lot of different things on his players' minds , and they were never able to finish off the Nuggets.
"In the Bubble, I had a group of guys that didn't want to be there," Rivers said in a talk with Andscape's Marc Spears." Lou Williams said, 'Look, we were trying to leave. We made the decision that we didn't want to be there.' So, I felt that. I knew that. The greatest part about coaches is we keep things in a vault. I could see that."
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"What bugs me about the Bubble is that I couldn't get them to understand that we had a chance to win a title. That's what bugs me. They wanted to go home more than they wanted to win. And I still don't understand that. I'm too competitive. And I really thought that team had enough," Doc asserted.
It turned out that Doc's last season with the team was his last, as he was fired before the start of the 2020-21 season, with Tyronn Lue taking over. Meanwhile, Lou Will returned the next season but was traded to his hometown Hawks midway through the season. The Clippers made their deepest playoff run with Kawhi Leonard, reaching the Western Conference Finals. But that year still ended in disappointment.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Sep 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
