Darrius Barron
Sport Editor
Since the Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, the famed organization has been the dominant basketball team in the city; and arguably the entire state. The Lakers have achieved ultimate success in the NBA by earning 11 championships in LA, and 16 in total.
The Los Angeles Clippers on the other hand has been living in the shadow of the Lakers since the team moved from San Diego. The organization has not been able to win any championships, nor have they played in a conference finals game.
Although many people would count the Clippers as a team that will never see the ultimate glory of an NBA championship, LA’s second basketball team is poised to put the work in to become a household name.
Now that the Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and Deandre Jordan era is over (also known as the Lob City era), many Clipper fans who admired the razzle dazzle of the Lob City era find themselves amazed at the level of play they are witnessing from this season’s Clippers.
At the start of the season, The Clippers got off to a great start by beating top tier teams like the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Houston Rockets. Although they took their fair share of losses, beating these teams made basketball fans across the nation wonder about how far they could make it in the western conference.
Now that the season is rapidly approaching its end, the Clippers find themselves sitting at number two in the pacific conference, and number six in the entire western conference. As it stands, all playoff seeding has been clinched, meaning that the Clippers are going to the playoffs even if they lose every game for the rest of the season.
Things are now starting to look up for the Clippers organization after decades of living in the Laker’s shadow, especially since the Lakers are yet again a no call, no show for the playoffs.
In a tweet, reporter Tomer Azarly shared the energy that Clippers’ guard Patrick Beverly brought to the locker room. Beverly boldly stated his opinion on where the Clippers’ status in LA.
“The Clippers are the best team in LA. Mother——- thought I was joking.,” said Beverly.
Halfway through the season, Clippers’ front office proposed a strategy to purposely lose games, a strategy widely known as “tanking.” Clippers’ front office may have thought they would have had a better chance in the draft lottery than making it to the playoffs.
The “tanking” method was immediately rejected by team owner, Steve Ballmer as he told Clipper executives to make a push for the playoffs. At this point, Clipper fans were not only surprised by the high level of play, but at the owner’s ambition to win.
Even after trading a forward Tobias Harris to the Philadelphia 76ers at the trade deadline, the Clippers failed to show signs of weakness on the court. With the win over the Memphis Grizzlies, the Clippers earned the NBA’s best record during the month of March, and there are still four players that are averaging over 10 points per game.
The Clippers may not be the flashiest team in the NBA, nor do they have the biggest names on the roster. The Clippers are resembling the 2004 Detroit Pistons in terms of not having a single superstar, but are proving their worth amongst star studded teams.
Jarvis Robinson, a journalism and media studies major from Chicago, IL believes that it will take other factors for the Clippers to become the dominant team in LA.
“I feel like they would bring home a championship by bringing in some free agents such as Kawhi or somebody like that. I feel like the Lakers’ history is too rich for them not to be kings of LA, but this is a step in the right direction for the Clippers going to the playoffs, and not the Lakers.”
As for now, even though the Clippers have upstaged the Lakers, they still have a tough road ahead. With only four games left in their season, the possibility of them playing the grit and grind Portland Trailblazers in the first round of the playoffs are high.
To hear more about the NBA, tune into student podcast “At the Whistle” on YouTube. At the Whistle can be found on the Blue & White Flash’s YouTube channel which is “JSUBlueWhiteFlash” and the podcast name is “ATW.”
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