National Basketball Association

Report: Clippers packed for conference finals before Game 7

Published May. 19, 2015 12:27 p.m. ET

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Practically speaking, it probably made a lot of sense for the Los Angeles Clippers to plan ahead for a lengthy road trip ahead of the team’s trip to Texas for a Game 7 showdown against the Houston Rockets. But that doesn’t mean the reports that the team packed as if it would be leaving Houston and heading straight to Oakland for Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors any less a case of twisting the knife into the Clippers’ postseason carcass.

A nugget about the ill-fated Clippers’ travel plans were revealed by The Los Angeles Times’ Ben Bolch.

The Clippers had taken an optimistic approach Sunday, packing enough clothes for the first two games of the conference finals against the Golden State Warriors. But Houston will be taking the flight to Oakland after advancing past the second round for the first time since 1997.

As noted, the decision to pack accordingly for a potential trip to the Western Conference finals likely was much more of a decision based upon a practicality standpoint and not some kind of hackneyed attempt at providing some kind of psychological edge or implemented as a clumsy motivational tactic.

Still, if the Clippers’ monumental collapse in their series against the Rockets — losing in heartbreaking fashion courtesy of Sunday’s 113-100 Game 7 loss — after being up 3-1, making matters infinitely worse — will sting just a little bit more when players, coaches and staff miserably stare at all that luggage that now needs unpacking, something that will have to be done much sooner than anyone in the organization perhaps envisioned.

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