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Lou Williams Blames ‘One Bad Week’ For Clippers’ Stunning 2020 Playoff Collapse
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- Lou Williams Blames ‘One Bad Week’ For Clippers’ Stunning 2020 Playoff Collapse
Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Clippers entered the 2020 Bubble as championship favorites but left Orlando after one of the most stunning collapses in playoff history. More than six years later, Lou Williams believes the downfall can essentially be traced back to just one bad week.
The Clippers had a 3-1 second-round lead against the Denver Nuggets before losing three consecutive games and being eliminated. On the Cousins podcast , Williams believes the unusual environment surrounding the bubble and numerous distractions eventually became too much for the Clippers.
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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, dog. We were initially, but we had—we were, look, we was knee-deep in social injustice at that time. We was knee-deep in trying to find the money in the bubble. That's how they got us there in the first place. They told us we got to get to the bubble to go try to find the rest of this money. We were knee-deep in trying to get home, too."
"Like, I think people forget we all agreed to end the bubble at one time because of, you know, the situation that happened with the Milwaukee Bucks . We were trying to—we were in good faith. We was with what everybody else was with."
"If we would have focused on the Clippers and only the Clippers in the bubble, I think we would have got there. And at the end of the day, the bubble was—it was, it was such a weird thing, bro. We had one bad week. Like, I don't think, I don't think people realize that. We had one bad week, and it cost us everything."
"We was up 3-1 on Denver. We gave away—we gave away three straight games. In the time that we gave away three straight games, man, we had so many distractions around us."
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"And, and I'm not gonna make no excuses for us. I'm gonna be very clear about that. What's happened has happened. But if you asking me in retrospect, what I, in my opinion, what 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, and it just didn't go our way. We was kind of one foot in, one foot out. Um, and the, the, the longer we were there, the worse it got, the worse it got. And it, it just became such an uphill battle for our particular group at that time."
"And the week that it was so important for us to lock in and be together, we just had so many different outside responsibilities coming our way, and we just didn't show up."
Williams points to everything happening around basketball. The NBA resumed its season amid the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide protests over racial injustice, while players were also dealing with the financial implications of a potentially shortened season.
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The situation got even more complicated when the Milwaukee Bucks chose not to play Game 5 of their first-round series following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Players subsequently discussed ending the season entirely, but they talked it out and got back to finishing out the NBA season.
Williams believes the Clippers had more than enough talent if basketball remained their sole focus, but that wasn't the case, and it unraveled through a collapse against Denver.
Williams believes he himself became part of the distraction around the Clippers. After receiving permission to leave the bubble for a funeral, he also visited Atlanta 's Magic City, resulting in an extended quarantine when he returned.
Other Clippers , such as Montrezl Harrell , Patrick Beverley , and Landry Shamet , also dealt with interruptions. The group was never completely established , as they struggled to build the continuity expected from a championship contender.
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Williams has said he wasn't attempting to excuse the collapse, but looking back, he believes the Clippers weren't committed mentally. Former coach Doc Rivers has also expressed similar sentiments, saying he felt some players wanted to leave Orlando more than they wanted to continue competing for a championship.
The loss and the Clippers' collapse ultimately changed the franchise. Rivers departed after that season, Tyronn Lue replaced him, and Williams was traded to the Atlanta Hawks during the following season.
For Williams, however, the most frustrating part remains how close the Clippers were. They weren't eliminated after months of poor basketball. In his eyes, one chaotic week was enough to destroy their championship hopes altogether.
