Clippers hope the pain of past playoff failures motivates them to greater heights in 2016-17 season

Sacramento Kings guard Garrett Temple, left, keeps the ball away from Clippers guard Chris Paul during the first quarter in an NBA preseason game on Oct. 18.

By Broderick Turner

Oct. 26, 2016 4:20 PM PT

Reporting from Portland, Ore. —

The Clippers don’t view their season opener Thursday night in Portland against the Trail Blazers as a revenge game.

Rather, they see it as the first step toward their ultimate goal of winning the franchise’s first NBA championship.

Portland is where the Clippers’ season ended last spring in yet another playoff disappointment, as they were eliminated in Game 6 of the first round.

The Clippers suffered some unfortunate injuries in that series, but the team summoned a resolve few would have expected under the circumstances.

They lost Chris Paul because of a broken right hand and Blake Griffin with a left quadriceps tendon injury in Game 4. Both missed the rest of the postseason, leaving the Clippers without their two best players.

Then in Game 6, Austin Rivers got elbowed in his left eye, an injury that required 11 stitches to close. J.J. Redick played with a sore heel and DeAndre Jordan turned his ankle. The short-handed Clippers put up a good fight before losing, 106-103, to the Trail Blazers.

All those events, the Clippers now claim, has “morphed” them into a more resilient group.

Of course, the proof will be determined over 82 regular-season games, and more importantly, over the course of the playoffs for a team that has never been past the second round.

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“I think it’s growth. I think we didn’t have that grit two or three years ago,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said. “I think that’s something that we have morphed into, and that’s why we fought so hard to try to keep as many of those guys around.”

In that elimination game in Portland last spring, Austin Rivers returned after getting medical attention to produce 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds with an eye nearly shut from swelling. Jordan limped for a few seconds after his injury, but finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds. And Jamal Crawford scored a playoff career-high 32 points.

That Game 6 may have changed the perception of the Clippers.

“I think one of the questions with our group is always the mental toughness part of it, and I think we showed a lot of mental toughness and grit and resolve,” Crawford said. “We were seconds away from bringing it back here for a Game 7 on our home court. So it showed a lot of resolve.”

In some ways, the Clippers want to embrace what they went through in the playoffs as they look forward to what the 2016-17 season may bring.

“We have goals as a team. We can’t get caught it up in what we did last year because it’s behind us,” Austin Rivers said.

“Everybody’s healthy. We have guys who have new contracts and feel more confident. We have DJ. I don’t how much better a summer a player [Jordan] can have being first team All-NBA, first team All-Defense, gold medal [in the Olympics]. … I think you’re going to see that in the confidence of our team this year, a better, more grown, confidence.”

The Clippers are aware of the self-inflicted pain they have caused in the playoffs in the past three seasons.

But as Crawford said, the bumpy journey “hasn’t killed us,” so they keep pressing forward.

“It would mean everything to break through with this group,” Crawford said. “I’ve said it over and over again, because we all felt the same heartache. It wasn’t like somebody felt it more than the other person. We all felt it together. So to breakthrough with this group, the core group of guys, I think would mean more.”

This Clippers are loaded with talent, from Griffin to Paul to Jordan to Redick to Rivers and Crawford. They also added capable veterans in Marreese Speights, Alan Anderson, Raymond Felton and Brandon Bass.

Still, they may be better equipped for any situation because they didn’t surrender in the Portland series.

“CP goes out, guys don’t flinch. Blake goes out again, they don’t flinch. J.J. is hobbling around the floor and our guys just kept going,” Doc Rivers said. “You want to have that same spirit and health. That’s a great combination. You don’t want to have it because of injuries. You want to have it because that’s just who you are. Listen, it may help us in the long run.”

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