There has been talk the entire season about the Clippers never really taking the season seriously. Whether it was load management or just a general effort night-to-night, I read and heard frequent criticism from the media about how the Clippers were acting like the Warriors, or the late-stage Heatles era, where they were this super-accomplished, championship team, that understood who they were and could coast during the regular season because they knew exactly what they had to do to turn it on in the playoffs and get the most out of the team. In the playoffs we have seen that they haven't really figured their identity out, and this is largely still a team that hasn't played that much together, especially when you factor in the gap in the season and the moves they made at the trade deadline.
Kawhi did the same load management thing in Toronto last season, but that was a different situation. That was a tightly defined unit that knew how to play together, they were just upgrading from DeRozan to Kawhi. When they added players at the trade deadline, it was bringing in a selfless, high IQ player in Marc Gasol; not players like Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson. The approach to the season from the Clippers has been lazy and I think they are paying the price right now, as less-talented teams are able to beat them with some consistency because the Clippers haven't figured out what they need to do to be successful. The front office, Doc and the players all deserve part of the blame.