Just like many against the Spurs, this was a heartbreaking close playoff loss.

This is how the game began: a blind Joey Crawford called my center DeAndre Jordan for his second foul of the game when Dwight Howard shoved him in the back into the opposing player, maybe three minutes into the game. For the rest of the first quarter, a dormant Dwight used dunks and his height to help Houston score 35 points. We mustered 24, mostly from Blake Griffin.

Once Jordan was released from the bench, it was all Clippers. We went on a tear even with our center carefully not picking up another foul. Griffin poured in 26 first half points for a 65-56 halftime lead, a complete role reversal from the opening quarter. We also got James Harden in foul trouble.

Everything came to fruition for Los Angeles to begin the second half. Nobody was in foul trouble anymore, and then Harden picked up his fourth. Our lead soared to double-digits, but then our nerves set in. I still don’t fully know why, but even my heart was beating like a mother fucker. I think we knew just how close we were. That’s when Chris Paul would have been nice to calm us down.

Instead, we came kind of unglued. We maintained a small lead heading into the fourth, but we were lacking fire power. All the little things went wrong when we were in position to excel. Harden was on the bench the whole Rockets run. Maybe it helped them.

The fourth quarter started to get out of control. But we regrouped before the lead pushed past double-digits too much. Our energy was back, but it was too late. Despite rallying all the way down to four, a late turnover by Austin Rivers in the open court sealed our fate. It wasn’t just him, though, for he actually was quite clutch. J.J. made a terrible turnover and nothing would drop for anyone in the second half.

We just have to keep pushing forward and remember how far we’ve come. We took home court advantage from Houston by splitting these two games on the road. And we did it without Paul. Our bodies will adjust to the pressure as the series goes on. We’ll see you in LA.