On a team of fleas, Clippers’ Chris Paul is the only one with bite

The Clippers’ public relations department sent out a notice announcing none of their players would be available Wednesday.

It wasn’t surprising to hear they lacked the backbone to own up to their own disappearing act a night earlier.

The PR notice said the players would be available to talk Thursday at 11:15 p.m. I’m sure the Clippers meant 11:15 a.m., but then I wonder — maybe they don’t want anyone talking to them.

Why didn’t they schedule exit interviews for the players Wednesday? The season is over.

Why weren’t the Clippers walking the streets of Los Angeles all day long apologizing to everyone for being such failures again?

They should have invited every single season-ticket holder to the team’s practice facility and had folks explain to the players how much Tuesday night’s game meant to them.

Charles Barkley described the Clippers as being “softer than tissue paper,� leading to a Page 2 column March 7 that began: “I worry Charles Barkley might have the Clippers pegged correctly as fool’s gold.�

Maybe the Clippers will never be much more than fool’s gold, having no idea what it takes to win when it’s all on the line.

Now Barkley is saying the Clippers “have the mental toughness of a flea,� and although none of us probably have any idea of the mental capabilities of a flea, it makes you wonder if he’s being a little too tough on the fleas.

“The toughest player on your team can’t be 6 foot tall,� Barkley said in referring to Chris Paul, but he is.

The game over, his hand bandaged, Paul stepped into a crowded room full of reporters Tuesday night and said it was his fault the Clippers did not win.

They are lucky to have such a winner on their team, but what a waste to surround him with Clippers.

Paul is probably going to be as good a businessman as he is basketball player and return to the Clippers because they can pay him more than any other team.

But does he really want to lead such a group of heartless losers?

Throw me any excuse you want, but you are home, you are playing Game 5, and if you are a professional, you have to compete like this means absolutely everything.

But the Clippers did not. And Memphis did.

The Grizzlies dug deeper after losing the first two games of the series, being outrebounded in each of those games.

Memphis played harder, and as trite as that might sound, they went after the basketball like every possession mattered. And the Clippers wimped out.

Why should anyone think the Clippers have what it takes to dig deep now and find something extra to win, or even compete in Memphis?

When you have beaten Memphis as often as the Clippers have the last two seasons, it’s shocking that they would gag now.

I know something about Choking Dogs, the Dodgers and Clippers both suffering internally at times because of immaturity, a crippling strain of selfishness and an inability to measure up to expectations.

But I thought the Clippers had enough veterans to shut down such pettiness. However, they failed to do so. Some of the Clippers were still pouting when advised they might play better and losing focus while searching for someone else to blame for their own mistakes.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise now. When the going got tough, Memphis came together and got stronger. The Clippers, meanwhile, folded like soft tissue paper.

Last season the Grizzlies, as well as most of the Clippers, were afraid of Reggie Evans and Kenyon Martin. They were grizzled pros. They looked upon competition as someone might a street fight.

When the Clippers fell behind in Game 1 by 27 points, they went into a rage and mauled Memphis. And the Clippers won.

It happened again in Game 7, while Paul was taking a pair of painkilling shots in the first round to beat back the pain and lead the competitive surge.

But who stands tall beside Paul in Memphis on Friday?

Right now I see no one.

The Clippers were not at full strength last year for Game 7 in Memphis, but they found a way to play tougher than the Grizzlies and pulled off the miracle.

But these fleas haven’t shown anything to suggest they won’t just shrink again under the spotlight.

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