Chris Paul, Doc Rivers shattered as 'Clippers Curse' strikes again

A downcast Chris Paul said there was nothing positive about the Los Angeles Clippers falling short of the Western Conference final yet again.

The LA franchise, which was formerly the Buffalo Braves and the San Diego Clippers, has never reached the West final - despite seven semi-final appearances.

Three of those semi-final series have come in the past four post-seasons, with 4-0 (to the San Antonio Spurs in 2011-12) and 4-2 (to the Oklahoma City Thunder) losses preceding their stunning 4-3 loss to the Houston Rockets sealed on Sunday.

"No we wouldn't want to, we wouldn't want to imagine that, but it sucks it did," Paul said, when asked if he could believe the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead.

Asked if they he felt they could build on the run, Paul replied in glum fashion: "No I don't, I'm sorry but... I don't really see the growth in a loss. It's a long time until you get to the play-offs again."

Coach Doc Rivers also said he could not believe they were out of the post-season, and pinpointed their game five loss in Houston - where the Rockets were 124-103 winners - as the turning point.

"No [I couldn't imagine being out], but give them credit," Rivers said.

"I thought this series changed, personally, in game five. I thought they were ready to go home if we supplied the pressure, and we didn't.

"And then after that, I thought they looked at it like, 'Hey, listen. Even though we're down 3-2 now, there's only one home game each'.

"And obviously what happened in game six, I'll think about it for a long time and so will our players."

The Clippers blew a 19-point lead at home in game six on Thursday to succumb to a 119-107 loss, before the Rockets advanced via game seven.

Blake Griffin, LA's leading scorer on Sunday with 27 points, refuted the notion the 'Clippers Curse' was to blame for the franchise's latest shortcoming.

"The Clippers Curse when I first got here was about winning seasons," Griffin said.

"No-one talked about getting past the second round, not a single soul talked about that. But now, that's what everybody talks about.

"Just like the last one [curse], we're going to bust through this one."