Clippers' Marcus Morris on Loss to Nuggets: 'That Team Wasn't Better Than Us'

Not surprisingly, the Los Angeles Clippers' playoff collapse against the Denver Nuggets remains a sore spot for Marcus Morris Sr. 

The Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead in the conference semifinals and lost Game 7 by 15 points.

Still, Morris insisted to reporters Thursday that Denver "wasn't better than us." He appeared to defend his position on Twitter:

Morris isn't entirely wrong. Los Angeles had almost the entirely same squad from the one that earned 48 victories in 2018-19 while adding Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to the mix.

That the Clippers dropped three straight games to the Nuggets underlined their biggest problem, though.

The Athletic's Jovan Buha wrote a lengthy postmortem, reporting that the treatment afforded to Leonard and George rubbed some players the wrong way. Los Angeles didn't have much cohesion on the court, either, leaning far too much on the talent of individual players.

JaMychal Green, who signed with Denver after spending the last year and a half with the Clippers, provided what could be read as a critique of his old team while explaining his decision to join the Nuggets.

"Blowing a 3-1 lead, [Denver] just fought," Green told reporters. "It just showed you the type of heart they had."

The Clippers lost reigning Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell but replaced him with Serge Ibaka, and they signed Nicolas Batum to shore up their depth on the wing.

As long as George and Leonard stay healthy, the Los Angeles Lakers' stiffest competition for the 2021 title might be right in their backyard. But the 2020 playoffs showed how having the best team on paper doesn't count for much if the players aren't working together on the court.