Whicker: Clippers ride a long way on effort, but next year will require something more

LOS ANGELES — Rarely has a team basked in such love because it did its job.
You wonder if it says more about the Clippers, who swam upstream to win 48 games and made Golden State break a furious sweat in the first round, or the NBA, where “effort” and “energy” are praised profusely because they’re not always seen.
The Clippers started strongly against Golden State and then wilted under the relentless raindrops of Kevin Durant and the human smorgasbord that is