By Alvin Halimwidjaya
As of Monday morning, most teams in the NBA having played 10 or 11 games and a surprising name headlines the Western Conference standings. It’s not the Warriors juggernaut, the San Antonio Spurs or even the Westbrook-led Thunder. With nine wins and only one loss, the Los Angeles Clippers are alone at the top. However, no one knows if this is worth paying attention to, because everyone is once again waiting to see the Clippers shoot themselves in the foot, or in this case, get Blake Griffin to punch another employee in the face.
To be clear, the Clippers are objectively an elite team. They are consistently one of the top 10 offenses in the league and their defense, while a little unsteady, is still a force to be reckoned with. They have a quintessential point guard in Chris Paul, who continues to keep up with Curry, Westbrook and Lillard. They also have Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, two of the best big men in the league, and coach Doc Rivers, who can get any unit to produce to its full potential.
However, the curse of being the “other” team in Los Angeles still haunts the Clippers to this day. While they’re out wreaking havoc and bouncing teams like the Spurs, Trailblazers and Thunder, everyone is still enthralled with the Lakers’ youth movement led by young guns like D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. Playing in a stadium that has a statue of Magic Johnson right outside it and in a city that adored Wilt, Shaq and Kobe isn’t the best thing for a team that, until late 2011, had Elton Brand and Michael Olowokandi as its most notable names.
In addition, the Clippers simply have not yet proven that they can get past their demons in April and May. The last two years, they were pegged as one of the few teams that could dethrone the Warriors. However, in 2015, the Clippers lost a 3-1 lead to the Rockets in the second round of the playoffs. This was headlined by a Game 6 meltdown that saw Corey Brewer and Josh Smith, of all people, lead a comeback in the fourth quarter. Last year, the Clippers were once again hit by the injury bug, as both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin bowed out in the first round, allowing the upstart Trail Blazers to take their place in a matchup against the Warriors.
The question everyone is asking is whether the Clippers can finally pull it together this year. Season after season, the Clippers have succumbed to bad luck, whether by misfortune’s hand or by their own. The Clippers bench has been playing at a high level so far, with new acquisitions like Raymond Felton and Marreese Speights giving the other role players new life. Griffin, Paul and Jordan are still one of the best trios in the league. However, until the Clippers can prove that they are capable of pulling themselves together and making a deep playoff run, critics and pundits will continue to dig their graves and the Clippers’ meme-worthy reputation will live on.
