A recent history of the Clippers curse in the wake of Griffin's injury

Every fan base moans about being cursed.

The Knicks are comically inept. The Raptors become the Barneys during the playoffs. The Timberwolves haven't even cracked the postseason in over a decade. The Kings were robbed by the referees in 2002 and have been plundered by bad ownership ever since.

Every team has something to gripe about, but all that falls short of what the Los Angeles Clippers have gone through. Other teams have been unlucky, but the Clippers are cursed.

The latest chapter of the Clippers' history has been the cruelest of them all. From the outside looking in, it would appear the franchise is basking in its golden age. But in actuality, teasing tortured fans with false hope is the sickest joke to date.

Here's a recent history of the Clippers curse.

2012-13: Better days ahead

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This was Lob City at the peak of its powers. The Clippers obliterated their opponents and danced on their graves. Everybody hated them.

Chris Paul fully integrated himself into the team, Blake Griffin was a budding superstar, and DeAndre Jordan finally shrugged off excess pounds to unlock a frightening athlete. They looked to be the new rising power in the West that would threaten for a title after finishing with a franchise-best 56 wins.

But they were quickly humbled by the postseason. Los Angeles went up 2-0 but dropped four straight to the Memphis Grizzlies and got bounced in the first round. That was only a sneak peak of what the Clippers curse had in store.

All things considered, it was an understandable loss given that Memphis made the Western Conference finals that season. But the Clippers still needed someone to take the blame, and head coach Vinny Del Negro served as a convenient scapegoat.

2013-14: Donald Sterling's last revenge

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Out goes Del Negro, and in comes a championship-tested coach in Doc Rivers to get the Clippers to the promised land.

But the curse struck yet again during the playoffs. Team owner Donald Sterling was exposed as a racist when secretly recorded tapes were unearthed by TMZ. The (not-so-surprising) revelation rocked the NBA to its core, but to the Clippers it was one massive distraction from their playoff push. Playing basketball was the last thing on their minds as the entire franchise was in flux.

In retrospect, this was Rivers' finest moment. He put the franchise on his shoulders and assumed total leadership in a very difficult time. Rivers consoled players and team staffers as the franchise suffered through its worst embarrassment.

The Clippers were ultimately bounced in the second round by the Oklahoma City Thunder. But that came secondary to Adam Silver's tricky legal battle as he went about ridding an age-old problem in Sterling.

2014-15: The original blown 3-1 lead

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Finding a taker for the Clippers proved to be rather easy. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bought the franchise for an absurd $2 billion, and it was back to business as usual.

Evicting Sterling still didn't end the Clippers curse, however. They managed to survive a tough matchup with the San Antonio Spurs in Round 1 thanks to Paul's heroics, only to set up another humiliation.

The Clippers raced out to a 3-1 series lead over the Houston Rockets by winning Games 3 and 4 by a combined 58 points. After dropping the next one, they took a 19-point lead at home in Game 6. Griffin was throwing down 360 layups in the third quarter, while the Clippers were seemingly headed for their first-ever trip to the conference finals.

But then came the curse to ruin everything, as the Rockets launched a furious 40-15 run in the fourth quarter to stun the Clippers. The unlikely combo of Josh Smith and Corey Brewer magically morphed into the Splash Brothers for a quarter as James Harden sulked on the bench. The Clippers never recovered from that loss and got eliminated in Game 7.

2015-16: Punched in the gut

That loss to Houston broke the psyche of the Clippers.

It nearly drove DeAndre Jordan to Dallas before his last-second about-face turn. Not only did that whole ordeal bring more bad press, but it became a well-known secret that the Clippers' stars didn't get along. Drama consumed the franchise.

The Clippers also started breaking themselves, quite literally. Griffin fractured his hand punching a team staffer one Saturday night in Toronto and earned himself a suspension. He also suffered a torn quad that limited him to 35 games.

More heartbreak awaited Los Angeles in the playoffs. Griffin re-aggravated his calf in the same game that Paul broke his hand trying to squeeze around a screen. Those injuries allowed the Portland Trail Blazers to recover from an 0-2 deficit to send the Clippers to a first-round exit.

2016-17: The last dance

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All of a sudden, the Clippers were on the clock. Having wasted away so many opportunities, this season was their last chance to get it right before Paul and Griffin hit free agency.

But it was only more of the same. Paul broke his hand again, and Griffin had another knee surgery. The Clippers slipped in the standings as a result, and had to settle for a No. 4 seed that locked them into the Golden State Warriors' side of the playoff bracket.

And now Griffin is once again lost to injury. A toe problem will cost him the remainder of the playoffs, leaving the Clippers woefully short against the Warriors, should they even advance past a resilient Utah Jazz team.

It appears inevitable that yet another Clippers season will end in tragedy, but the worst is yet to come. Los Angeles faces a potentially calamitous summer with its stars threatening to leave. Griffin and Paul have all the financial incentives to re-sign, but can they really handle more misery at the hands of the Clippers curse?