Rivers says his team didn’t take Houston seriously. He had to repeat himself in film sessions and walk-throughs. “San Antonio got our full attention,” Rivers says. “The Rockets, for whatever reason, didn’t.” Rivers praises Houston for rallying, but he remembers every Clippers mistake and every perceived injustice from the officials in alarming detail. There was a Corey Brewer and-1 early in the fourth quarter of Game 6 to cut L.A.’s lead to nine that should have been a charge, Rivers says, and Dwight Howard picking up a flagrant foul and a technical foul in separate incidents. “Dwight was doing everything he could to get thrown out,” Rivers recalls. “He had one flagrant, and he probably should have had another. But credit those guys. They fought.”
Some players, damningly, agree with Rivers’s claim that they didn’t grant Houston enough respect. “We weren’t on guard against Houston,” says Jamal Crawford. “We never thought we could lose three in a row to them.” The Clippers relaxed when things were easy and froze up when the Rockets made them difficult. That sounds like a team that should be asking whether it lacks some indefinable championship quality, but the Clippers aren’t going there — yet.
Yep - I'm sure that's the only reason we won. Sounds like some sore losers to me...