Doc Rivers Blames Conditioning for Game 7 Loss

The Los Angeles Clippers completed an epic playoff collapse on Tuesday night by giving up at the end of Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets.  The excuses immediately followed the pitiful performance.

Head coach Doc Rivers even got in on the action and blamed his team's conditioning for the loss.  He pointed to multiple players being in and out of the bubble as a contributing factor.

From Larry Brown Sports:

Doc Rivers told reporters after the game that his players were visibly exhausted during Game 7, which is not typical for them. The coach believes having multiple players who were in and out of the bubble became problematic.

“I was never comfortable. Never was,” Rivers said, per Spears. “Conditioning wise we had guys who couldn’t play minutes.”

The only thing more frustrating for Clippers fans than the meltdown is the way the players have handled it. Multiple Clippers players said they believe chemistry was an issue for the team. Then we saw Paul George, who shot just 4-for-16 in Game 7, make some troubling remarks about the Clippers’ mentality.

Conditioning might have played a role.  So did superstars shrinking when the lights were the hottest.  They completely gave up in the 4th quarter.