It was early in the second quarter of Game 6, and the Clippers had sprinted out to a 16-point lead over the Thunder.  Everything was going their way.  The Oklahoma City Thunder looked disorganized, playing as if resigned to a Game 7.  But one man didn’t like what he saw: Doc Rivers.  “I thought we came out with a lot of emotion to start the game, and I turned to one of my coaches and said, ‘I don’t know if I like this,’ Rivers recalled after the game.  “I was concerned they were going to hit the wall.”

Rivers was right.  The Clippers were never able to sustain the momentum of those first 15 minutes.  They spent the rest of the game waiting for Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to take over, and eventually, after a slow start, they did.  In a rampaging performance, Durant flashed his MVP chops with 39 points (25 in the second half), 14 rebounds, and 5 assists, and the mercurial Westbrook capped off a wondrous series with a 10-point fourth quarter and 17 second-half points.   In the end, the Clippers ran out of gas, ran out of miracles, and finally, ran out of time, as the Thunder eliminated them, 104-98, moving on to the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

It was a depressingly familiar scenario for the Clippers, who have never made it out of the second round of the playoffs, and are now 0-6 when trailing a best-of-7 playoff series 3-2.  It was perhaps most depressing for Chris Paul, who’s yet to reach a conference finals in his nine years in the league.

"I just feel awful for him," Rivers said. "He's the spirit of our team. Right now, his spirit is broken."

After the Clippers’ epic meltdown at the end of Game 5, with Paul taking full responsibility for a series of crucial mistakes in the final minute, the script called for a huge bounce-back game for the Clippers’ floor leader.  But though he tallied 25 points and 11 assists, it was another uneven fourth-quarter for Paul, who committed two turnovers and was whistled for an offensive foul that negated a DeAndre Jordan dunk and blunted a final Clippers charge. Even before that, Paul’s shot was off all night, and he was never able to get control of the offense.  As great as he was in the regular season, the whispers that Paul does not come up big in the biggest games will only get louder.

"We have a really good team, a great team,” said Paul afterwards. “It's crazy. You play all season long, and the last few games, we really started to figure out who our team was and how to play. And it's crazy that it's over."

But before you lament another Clippers season ending the way they usually do; before you point out that the Clippers advanced no further than they did two seasons ago with Vinnie Del Negro as coach, consider what they had to play through these last few weeks.  This was the most successful team in Clippers history, winning 57 games and the Pacific Division.   Doc Rivers brought a stability and leadership unmatched by previous regimes.  But this year’s playoffs will forever be tarnished by the ongoing Donald Sterling scandal, and while the players and Rivers refused to use it as an excuse, the emotional strain of playing through threats of boycotts, pressure by family and friends, and subsequent ill-timed interviews by the clueless Sterlings, both Donald and wife Shelly, clearly caught up to them.

"I don't think that was why we didn't win,” said Rivers. “I don't think we should use that as an excuse. We're a team in process. I believe we were good enough to win it this year. Oklahoma City told us we were not."

Game 6 certainly didn’t start that way.  With celebs like Rhianna and Oscar De La Hoya in attendance; with longtime Lakers fan Jack Nicholson courtside next to James Brooks, the Clippers came out of the gate showing no ill effects from their Game 5 collapse.  Blake Griffin scored early and often against nemesis Serge Ibaka,

Durant and Westbrook missed 11 of their first 12 shots, and when Westbrook went to the bench with two early fouls, the crowd roared, sensing a golden opportunity.

As it turned out, the Clippers had saved their best for that first quarter, and had little left to give thereafter.  Three consecutive treys by Durant, some on missed coverages by Clipper defenders, turned the game for good in the second quarter.   By halftime, with the Thunder within 8 at 50-42, despite Durant and Westbrook combining to shoot 4-16, there was an inevitable sense of what was coming.  In the third quarter, Westbrook broke through with 7 points and 7 assists, feeding the suddenly-hot Durant, who hit all five of his shots and scored 14 points.

And with unsung bigs Steven Adams and Nick Collison covering ably for Serge Ibaka’s injury, and with the Clippers’ normally reliable bench unable to get anything going, their spirit was finally broken.   Tied going into the fourth, the Thunder pulled away like racehorses with a 10-run.  Even down 11 with three minutes left, the Clippers summoned up the energy for one last heroic effort, using a 7-0 run to get within four at 97-93, but they couldn’t get hit the key shot or get a stop when they needed it.   In the end, there was no shame in losing to a superior team, but it was the lost opportunities of Game 5 that will haunt the Clips.

It’s gonna hurt for a while,” said a dejected Chris Paul after.  “We should’ve been here up 3-2, with a chance to close it out.  “It’s a long summer, I tell you that much.”

The hint of how bad a summer it could be began even before the game, when Donald Sterling’s lawyer, Maxwell M. Blecher, announced that the owner would not pay his $2.5 million fine, and that Sterling was prepared to fight the NBA’s attempt to remove him.  The players’ wish that Sterling be removed before the start of next season looks highly unlikely, given that the protracted legal battle that’s ahead.

And if that’s the case – what then?  Does Doc Rivers walk away?  Will the current players be pressured not to wear the Clippers uniform while Sterling is still in power?  Will any free agent even consider joining them? 

"Like I've said before, I'm under contract," Rivers said. "I have no plans on going anywhere, as far as I know."

Unfortunately for the Clippers, neither does Sterling.   Fasten your seat belts – it’s going to be a bumpy ride ahead.