LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies haven’t played each other in the postseason in almost two years but there is always a heightened level of intensity when the two teams face each other.
The coaches and many of the players have changed since they last played in the playoffs but the emotions and dislike between the two teams can still be felt as strongly now as ever. Monday was the latest chapter in the rivalry as Mike Conley stole the ball from Chris Paul in the closing seconds as Paul attempted to get to the basket for a game-winning shot, down by one. Instead Conley would hit two free throws and the Grizzlies beat the Clippers, 90-87.
“We’ve played against each other twice in the playoffs so with the remnants of the guys who are still there that always brings extra stuff,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “It just does. It’s the same thing with us and Golden State now. When you go through a seven-game series with each other there’s never any love lost after that. There just isn’t. That’s just the way it works. It’s probably good.”
Rivers knew before the game that it could be a struggle to score against the Grizzlies as they ended up with their second lowest point total of the season.
“I don’t mind if the game is played with emotion, that’s not too bad,” Rivers said. “What we don’t want to get into is a game where you’re putting your hands on each other and it’s like mud wrestling. I think they would enjoy that and we don’t want to play that way. They say styles make fights and when we play that’s a very good example of that. It’s like Sugar Ray [Leonard] and [Roberto] Duran and I know who [we] have to be. In the second fight, not the first fight.”
The loss snapped the Clippers’ four-game winning streak without Blake Griffin, who had the stitches in his right elbow removed and was cleared to work out on Monday. He is still expected to miss another two weeks and will not be with the team as they play the Grizzlies in Memphis later this week and try to start a new winning streak without him.
“We’ve adopted this one-game attitude. That’s the only thing we can do,” Rivers said. “We can’t look ahead. We’re not deep enough to do that right now so we try to focus on the single game.”