Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and Austin Rivers are left to ponder what might have been. The Clippers have never made it to the Western Conference Finals.

It definitely feels more like the latter as opposed to the former.  The #3 seeded Los Angeles Clippers (the other basketball team in LA) squandered a 3-1 series lead to the #2 seeded Houston Rockets, and blew a 19 point third quarter lead in Game 6.  What was supposed to be a celebration for this once hapless franchise quickly turned into a disaster.

Give credit to the Houston Rockets though, as they became one of only a handful of teams to overcome a 3-1 series deficit (the last being the Phoenix Suns in 2006 against the Los Angeles Lakers in a First Round series).  James Harden led with 31 points, while Dwight Howard added 16 points and 15 rebounds.

Houston meanwhile will play the #1 seeded Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals starting tomorrow.

Where do the Clippers go from here?  Many people think that DeAndre Jordan will leave after this season, but the Clippers are still a championship caliber team.  They have a great nucleus of players, and in a very unfairly stacked Western Conference, they can still be a Finals team.

What it came down to was just bad luck and not being able to close things out.  Hopefully for their sake, the Clippers have learned their lesson and go motivated into next season.

The Rockets meanwhile were 0-4 versus the Warriors this season, maybe this will be a spice of positive momentum.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will travel to Atlanta to play the Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday.

Stay Classy Everyone!