Doc Rivers thought the refs cost the Clippers a critical playoff game in 2015

Forgive us reminding you of the 2015 NBA playoffs, Clippers fans. But Doc Rivers blasting the officials in the Clippers’ first-round series against San Antonio was a critical postseason moment.

2015 was thought to be the Clippers’ year. San Antonio was old, Golden State hadn’t quite arrived yet and Houston was young so L.A. was the safe bet. But given what happened in Game 5 of the first round, the Clippers’ lost momentum could have sent them packing in historic fashion.

L.A. nearly folded in the first round

The Clippers had no answers for San Antonio's Manu Ginobili, Patty Mills and Boris Diaw — the three combined for 37 points off the bench. Mills added four momentum-swinging 3-pointers. But despite the bench almost single-handedly stomping the Clippers, L.A.’s coach was far more concerned with the officiating than any of the players on the court.

"I don't complain much," Rivers said after the game, per ESPN’s Arash Markazi. "I thought we got some really tough calls tonight, some brutal calls. The travel on Blake [Griffin], the goaltend on Matt [Barnes], which wasn't a goaltend. You think about the playoffs, and they're single-possession games. Those possessions, those were crucial. J.J. [Redick] 's foul that got him out, J.J. didn't touch anyone. It's not why we lost, but those were big plays for us."

Rivers was correct when he said he wasn’t much of a referee blamer. He’d chat with the refs if he felt they missed a call. But for the most part, he kept it PG and stayed respectful. The Game 5 loss really hurt Doc, and he knew that it would be difficult for his team to climb back in the series

The Clippers were playing for their playoff lives. In case you have a hard time remembering, L.A. didn’t love their chances when they fell 3-2 to the Spurs. Given their championship backbone, experience, and flat-out savvy, everyone was sold on San Antonio closing out Chris Paul’s ‘Lob City’ Clippers in six games. With CP3 struggling in Game 5, and the Clippers having no answers for the young Kawhi Leonard, the chips fell in favor of the Spurs.

The Clippers bounced back

The Clippers and Spurs probably gave fans the best series of the tournament. With the Clippers rallying to a stunning Game 6 victory, they were back on their home floor with a shot to knock off the defending champs.

With the game clock winding down, Paul shuffled to the baseline and hit an off-balance running shot over Danny Green and Tim Duncan with one second remaining. The shot turned into the game winner: L.A. won 111-109 and went on to play the Houston Rockets in round 2.

Related: Throwback - Former Clippers coach Doc Rivers had no intentions of playing blame game with Paul George