Here’s the story, from their greatest stretch of the season until arguably their worst:

We start this “story” from when the Clippers had a 4 game winning streak, with wins over teams including the Lakers, the Celtics, and other good opponents. Should have been a 6 game winning streak, but after beating Boston, Clips gave a game away to a very injured Portland team who even lost Aldridge to injury 10 minutes into the game.

17-18, one game away from .500.

BIG confidence tester on the way, with two very hot teams (Memphis, winners of 8 or their last 10, who reached .500 recently- and New Orleans with CP3 back, who just had a 6 game winning streak). Next two games after that? Back to back games, vs the Lakers and Cavs. Ouch.. But with the way Clippers had been playing, their outlook was BRING IT ON.

Chris Kaman was looking like an All-Star, with 7 straight games of 20+ points.

Blake Griffin was 1 week away from coming back to the team.

THEN, all of a sudden..

Their first chance to get back to .500 in a long time, the Clippers were playing the Grizzlies. Chris Kaman injured his back during warmups, but the team was fine without him- or so it seemed. With an amazing first half and great start to the 2nd half, Baron Davis got ready to shoot his second free throw with the Clippers having a 12 point lead. Suddenly the jumbotron told EVERYONE in the whole arena to evacuate, and that there is some kind of danger. Prime Ticket goes on to the next show and leaves Clipper fans staring at their TV’s wondering what happened.

Clippers and Grizzlies resume play on the court 36 minutes later. While Dunleavy said this was no excuse for losing, a team who was red hot and in the mood to play has to have some kind of different outlook after 36 minutes of waiting to resume play. Camby left the game with a stomach virus and was unable to help the Clippers potentially finish off the Grizzlies, also leaving Craig Smith and Deandre Jordan as the only Clipper big men left in this game. Grizzlies came back wanting the game more, took over and won the game.

Instead of being .500 with a 5 game winning streak, Clippers become 17-19 with a 1 game losing streak and red-hot Hornets the next day, and Lakers and Cavs on a back to back that same weekend. Also without Chris Kaman, and with Camby questionable for the next few games.

Kaman’s injury was more serious than expected, and he missed the next few games as well. Things could not have gotten worse for the Clippers for this tough stretch.

On top of all this? Instead of Blake Griffin coming back sometime this week or next week, we get SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED NEWS that Griffin will undergo surgery and miss the entire rest of the season.

So let’s recap all this…

17-18, about to become 18-18
4 game winning streak
Kaman looking like an All-Star
Up 12 on the Grizzlies, with 5th win in their sights
Expecting to have Camby and Kaman next game, as usual
Expecting to have Blake Griffin back sometime that week/ next week

All that, became this:

17-21, playing the Cavs tomorrow on a back to back after playing Lakers tonight
3 game losing streak, with Cavs looming on tomorrow
Kaman STILL INJURED
Losing to the Grizz after Camby becoming injured and a mandatory emergency evacuation delaying the game
Camby not in great condition to play, Kaman refused to play against the Lakers because his back still hurt
Blake Griffin out for the entire season.

…What a big swing. You guys also have to remember- seeing Blake Griffin go down was very tough on the team in the beginning of the season, and it really impacted their confidence. Also seeing a friend of theirs and a teammate not being able to play his first NBA games really put everyone on the team in shock. Imagine how they felt, AFTER WAITING FOR 8 WEEKS TO SEE GRIFFIN ON THE COURT, hear that he’s out for the whole season.