“Thank you Steve” and “Go Clips Go” chants as The Wall enters Ball Arena for Game 7

Clippers starters for Game 7: James Harden Norman Powell Kawhi Leonard Derrick Jones Jr. Ivica Zubac

Absolute no show from the Clippers in Game 7. Losing on the road would be one thing, but they’ve been smoked in effort department all night. Not nearly enough from the stars. Just bad all around.

Incredibly disappointing no show for the Clippers in Game 7. It was a fun season that exceeded some expectations, but the bottom line is it’s another first round exit. This time without a single injury to blame. The Kawhi Leonard era has produced 3 series wins in 6 seasons.

Ty Lue: “I’m frustrated losing. But I’m not frustrated with the guys in the locker room… I’m very happy with what those guys brought all year long.”

No postgame media for James Harden again. Just left the arena. He didn’t talk after the last three Clippers’ losses.

Kawhi Leonard was asked what gives him encouragement that he and James Harden can build on what they did this season: “I don’t know right now. I guess we’re still playing at a high level, in a sense. But that’s a hard question to answer right now.”

Thank you to everyone who followed my coverage this season. Really grateful for all the support and that I get to do this for work.

Lawrence Frank: “What happened in Game 7, that was extremely embarrassing. And also uncharacteristic… We’re disappointed with our playoff exit… Our players are embarrassed about Game 7. They’re really upset we lost this series.”

Lawrence Frank: “We feel really good about our core. And we expect to be really good again next season.” Says the Clippers can be even better next season with more games from Kawhi.

Lawrence Frank reiterated that the Clippers under Steve Ballmer will never try to tank. They’re attempting to field a competitive team every single year.

Lawrence Frank said he hasn’t given it any consideration that Kawhi Leonard and James Harden might not be on this team next season. “Everything we wanted from James, we got that and then some.”

The main takeaway from this Lawrence Frank presser is that the Clippers plan on running back the Kawhi Leonard and James Harden duo while maintaining financial flexibility going forward. They expect to be competitive again next season through internal improvement and roster

Lawrence Frank on Norman Powell: “He was the living example of addition by subtraction.”

Have a postseason, Aaron Gordon. What a player.

MVP

Ivica Zubac has made Second Team All-Defensive.

James Harden’s 2024-25 season: 22.8 PTS 8.7 AST 5.8 REB 8th career All-NBA team.

Chris Paul on his NBA future: “It’s with my family more than anything… I talk to my family about it. My son just turned 16. My daughter is 12. The past 6 seasons, I’ve lived without them… I want to hoop… But at the same time, I want to be dad.”

NBA fans watched Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers complete the most ridiculous comebacks all postseason long and were seriously talking about “ratings” before the Finals. This is as good as it gets. Can’t imagine caring about who didn’t watch.