For three decades, the Los Angeles Clippers were the NBA’s laughingstock, a poorly run team with a woeful record. But the team’s owner, Donald Sterling, was more than inept — it was a barely kept secret that he was a bigot, with lawsuits against him from the Department of Justice, for housing discrimination as a landlord, to basketball legend Elgin Baylor, for alleged mistreatment while a Clippers executive. Then in 2014, everything changed.
Under Doc Rivers, the Clippers — led by Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan — were suddenly a team competing to win an NBA title. But in the midst of their first round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, a leaked tape exploded the relative peace, revealing Sterling’s hateful racism for all to see. “ Clipped ,” FX’s series about the scandal , tracks everyone involved, including Sterling himself; his wife, Shelly; his mistress, V.
Stiviano; his executives and his team. But one of the most important and powerful scenes is in Episode 3, titled “Let the Games Began,” that narrows the focus down to Rivers (Laurence Fishburne) and his players as they contemplate whether to boycott Sterling and the NBA playoffs or continue their relentless pursuit of a title. Ultimately, the Clippers didn’t boycott, though at that night’s game they did protest by tossing their Clippers jackets on the court and wearing their warm-up gear inside out to show they were not playing for Sterling.
Then the new NBA commiss.