PHOENIX — Months ago, before injuries and setbacks to their star duo came to define the Clippers' season, many within the locker room and organization saw it playing out far differently.
Yes, the league-high 61 games before the mid-February All-Star break would test their aging roster's endurance. Yet the payoff was only 21 games from there until the postseason began two months later — two months in which the Clippers envisioned resting and tuning up for the most important postseason in franchise history.
The notion now seems quaint.
