Clippers have lost that winning feeling

OAKLAND — The Clippers needed to end this nightmare of a series, but it frightfully continues.

The Clippers needed to bury the Golden State Warriors and catch their exhausted breaths for the next round of the NBA playoffs, but the Warriors live.

It is the last thing the Clippers need at the end of a two-week purgatory during which they were humiliated beyond reason and stressed beyond belief, but after Thursday night, it is here.

Game 7. Heaven help us all.

In front of a loud and desperate Oracle Arena crowd, in the faces of a scratching and shoving Warriors team, the Clippers spent Thursday collapsing under the weight of it all, playing with neither fire nor focus, losing, 100-99, to even this first-round duel at three games apiece.

Yes, sir. Oh, man. Game 7. It will decide the series Saturday at Staples Center in the sort of pressurized environment that could wilt a Clippers team that has already endured much since the series began two weekends ago.

Their owner has been banned from the NBA for life. Their franchise will be changed forever. And now they must win one game against a more energized, more explosive team to keep this previously magical season alive.

The Clippers won the most games in franchise history this season, but the 57 wins will mean little if they can't get the one on Saturday, and it's exactly where they didn't want to be after taking the series lead earlier in the week.

They needed to close it out here. They needed to finish the Warriors now. There's not that much emotion left in their tank. And everybody knows it.

"What [the Clippers] don't want in this situation is a Game 7 because anything can happen," said Mark Jackson, Golden State coach, before Thursday's game. "So I don't think that the Clippers come in here with the mentality they've got one to bury and they can go back home. So I believe the pressure is on them."

Well, they have a Game 7, and even though it will be played in front of friendly home fans, the pressure is clearly on them and, well, they've actually already started wilting.

"Anybody who says that [Sterling] is a distraction is making excuses," said an irked Darren Collison on Thursday in a silent locker room. "We clearly had that game won, but they won the game because they made more plays than us."

More specifically, Golden State won the game because it blew past the confused, trudging Clippers in the middle of the third quarter and hung on at the end.

"We stopped trusting, We were basically a high school basketball team, no fun to watch, and we weren't very good at it," said Coach Doc Rivers of that third quarter.

The Warriors also won despite shooting just 39% and being outrebounded by four because the Clippers' Chris Paul seems tired and aching and scored just three baskets, while Blake Griffin could never seem to find his balance in missing 16 of 24 shots.

They were always a step slow, always a lunge behind, and this lack of spark kept them from pulling off a comeback that was entirely possible on a couple of different occasions.

"We have to continue to do who we are, we can't shy away from it, we have to be ready to play," pleaded Collison.

The good news for all fans is that, after a turbulent and sad five days, finally, this game was all about basketball. But the truth is, these six games will never be remembered for basketball, and those distractions clearly continue to weigh on the Clippers.

The series will, of course, be forever known by the Donald Sterling racist-rant audiotape that was released between Game 3 and Game 4. Three days and one demoralized Clippers loss later, the NBA banned Sterling for life while setting up procedures to force him to sell the team.

Folks wondered if the Clippers would ever emotionally recover from the embarrassment and stress, but on Tuesday they beat Golden State, 113-103, in a game awash in rejoicing and relief, setting up Thursday's potentially clinching game.

It was thought that their freedom of spirit would continue. But it did not. If Tuesday night represented a long-awaited party, then Thursday night was a hangover, and who knows what will happen on Saturday?

"I'm crazy enough to believe the pressure is on the Clippers," said the Warriors' Jackson before the game. "I've been in this situation before and it's tough to finish a team off. We are in our building. We'll play with passion, force and try to keep our season alive."

When informed of Jackson's charge, Rivers smiled.

"I'm good with that," he said. "Yeah, I mean, whatever. I think the pressure is on us every night so I'm fine with that. Pressure is good. Yeah, it's good."

It is? We'll find out Saturday. Game 7. Goodness gracious.

bill.plaschke@latimes.com

Twitter: @billplaschke

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