What's next for the Clippers after falling short again?

It's just about time for you to set your Daily Fantasy Baseball lineup. By all means, don't let us stop you, but feel free to return shortly to review Sunday's huge Game Seven in the Rockets-Clippers series with a trip to the Western Conference Finals on the line. The Rockets jumped out to a 17-point lead through three quarters and were able to cruise home for the win to stamp their ticket in the Conference Finals for the first time in almost two decades. In fact, Houston never trailed in this game as it completed a shocking recovery from a 3-1 series deficit that has left L.A. wondering what it has to do to get to the next level. Coming from down three games to one is a lot more commonplace in the NHL for some reason; in the NBA this was just the ninth time it's ever happened. Remember that the key game in this series was likely Game Six, when the Clippers were still clinging to a 3-2 series lead, but blew a 19-point lead in losing that game. Don't blame Clippers center DeAndre Jordan for the loss. We already discussed what an amazing rebounding season he had, and he was in beast mode on Sunday, scoring 16 points with 17 boards, four steals and three blocks. Jordan flushed an impressive dunk to pull the Clippers back within eight points with 85 seconds remaining, but he missed the free throw and Houston iced it 30 seconds later on Trevor Ariza's trey. It will be fascinating to see what happens to Jordan this summer in the wake of rumors that he and Chris Paul had a falling out this season. For the Clippers, questions begin anew as they still have never made it to the Western Conference Finals. This team was supposedly built for a title run, but in falling short again, it will be fun to see what moves are made this summer to retool the roster.

Three in the Key

• There was nothing wrong with Chris Paul's effort in the second half of this series as he put together four straight double-doubles, on Sunday adding five boards, four steals and two treys.
• The Western Conference Finals, pitting the Rockets against the Golden St. Warriors, begins Tuesday. We discussed how long it's been since Houston got here; for the Warriors, it's been even longer -- 1976 marking their last appearance.
• The last time a 3-1 series was erased in the NBA was 2006, when the Suns came back against the Lakers.