DeAndre Jordan and Clippers look to get past crucialmistake

It was 20 minutes to midnight when DeAndre Jordan finally emerged from what appeared to be alengthy period of introspection in front of his locker. He pulled a cream-colored jacket over amatching sweater and cargo pants before walking toward a group of reporters gathered in asemicircle in front of a nearby whiteboard.

There was much more to ponder than a basket interference call on Jordan's tip-in Tuesday night atStaples Center that wiped out a would-be Clippers lead with 4.9 seconds left in the most importantgame of his basketball life.

Would this be the final home game of the season for the center and his teammates after the Clippersendured another horrific ending in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the San AntonioSpurs? Might it be the last time Jordan, an unrestricted free agent this summer, dressed in thelocker room he has called home for all seven of his NBA seasons?

The wait for answers won't take long.

The Clippers need to beat the Spurs in Game 6 on Thursday night at the ATT Center to extend aseason that otherwise would end far short of expectations and prompt questions about Jordan'sfuture, not to mention a franchise that has stalled after regular-season success.

"Our guys have been very resilient all year," Coach Doc Rivers said Wednesday. "And I would be verysurprised if we weren't ready to play a great Game 6."

A Clippers loss would sustain a run of playoff failures that dates to Jordan's first season alongsidestar teammates Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. The Clippers were clearly outclassed by San Antonio ina 2012 Western Conference semifinal series before squandering a 2-0 lead in a first-round seriesagainst Memphis in 2013 and collapsing in the final minute of Game 5 against Oklahoma City lastseason in a conference semifinal series.

They were widely counted out after dropping Games 2 and 3 in this series against the Spurs beforerallying to win Game 4 in San Antonio. Then came the latest twist in a series largely devoid ofmomentum but rife with drama.

The NBA fined Rivers $25,000 on Wednesday after Rivers specified several calls he disagreed within Game 5 that he described as "brutal."

"Great call," Rivers said of the fine. "I just felt like it needed to be said."

The league's day-after referee report actually stated that two of the three calls it missed in thegame's final two minutes -- incorrect noncalls on fouls committed by Paul and Matt Barnes -- shouldhave gone against the Clippers, but that did nothing to lessen Rivers' anger about what he perceivedas other bad calls.

Among the calls Rivers questioned were basket interference on Barnes, traveling on Griffin and afoul on J.J. Redick for apparently just standing there. There was also a fourth-quarter technical foulon Paul that netted the Spurs a point when it looked as if Paul did nothing more than throw the ballto a referee after a Spurs basket to accelerate the start of a Clippers' possession.

"I thought if anything, it was a delay of game," Paul said afterward, referring to a violation thatwould have resulted in merely a warning on the first offense. "In the other 82 games it would havebeen a delay of game, but tonight they didn't call it."

Jordan blamed himself for the late basket interference call on a Griffin shot that may have been goodon its own, calling it "a dumb play."

"I was under the basket," Jordan said, "so I couldn't really" tell whether the ball was going in.

There is no such uncertainty when it comes to the Clippers' fate Thursday. Win, and Jordan comeshome with his team for Game 7 at Staples Center. Lose, and Jordan has extra time to decide wherehe wants to dress in next season.

Times staff writer Broderick Turner contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-clippers-spurs-20150430-story.html?track=rss