Doc Rivers insists on keeping Big 3 together

Doc Rivers just made it pretty clear where Blake Griffin will be playing basketball.

Many teams wondered if they might be fortunate enough to land Los Angeles big man Blake Griffin after an off-the-court altercation with a team staffer earlier this season.

While that sounds great when speaking of it hypothetically, a report from ESPN tells of how determined Doc Rivers is to make success a reality for a team that has been disappointing, to say the least, in their last few playoff appearances.

This season didn’t go as planned either, as both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul went out with season-ending injuries right in the middle of their first round series with the Portland Trail Blazers.

After jumping out to a 2-0 series lead and defending home court early, Los Angeles lost four straight games to Damian Lillard and compnay.

The early end to the season has given the Clippers a great opportunity to refocus and possibly even reinvent themselves by the time next year rolls around.

Rivers was asked about the impact of Griffin’s fight with one of the staff in the report, and here’s what he had to say about if it worried him or not.

Per the ESPN report:

"I wasn’t. I mean, it was dramatic in that it was a surprise. It was a shock, because Blake’s not that guy. Matias is not that guy. It just made no sense. As far as team-building and stuff, it was only that — shock. Once guys got by the shock and realized Blake wasn’t coming back anytime soon, that had the bigger impact."

Shock wasn’t the only thing that plagued Los Angeles though, as the loss to the Portland Trail Blazers only echoed the pains of the second round collapse against the Houston Rockets that proceeded it.

Rivers has to accept at least some, if not all, of the responsibility for his team’s problems on the floor, but the injury and absence of some of his best assets isn’t something easy to overcome.

While the Clippers did just fine without Blake Griffin in the lineup during the regular season, it was losing Chris Paul in the same breath and in a playoff series that did them in.

Paul was the only chance the Clippers had against the San Antonio Spurs two seasons ago, and it took an injured superstar to make the game and series winning shot in the closing seconds.

When asked if he would ever trade Griffin, Paul, or DeAndre Jordan, Rivers originally answered with a no, but added that “of course it can change, but I don’t think it will.”

If any sort of blockbuster trade were to happen, Los Angeles couldn’t afford letting one of their stars go without getting a star in return — anything else just wouldn’t cut it.

Next: UCLA Alumni Staying Alive In NBA Playoffs

The need for a championship season grows more with each sad ending that the team has had to go through, and if they have to go  through another one it’s hard to see them handling the embarrassment very well.