Warriors-Clippers Rivalry Still in Full Force
By Segun Giwa
Lob City vs. The Splash Brothers. SoCal vs. NorCal. Clipper Nation vs. Dub Nation.
It wasn’t long ago that the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers were Western Conference afterthoughts, both poorly managed and filled with bad lottery picks and swing-and-miss free agents. During this period, many outside of the Bay Area didn’t know what city the Warriors played in and the Clippers were considered the little brother of the Lakers.
Now, these two teams are arguably the two best teams in the conference, in the middle of the biggest rivalry in all of the NBA. If you told me in 2012 that the Warriors would win a championship before the Clippers did, I would ask you what you had to drink.
So, with the Warriors recent championship and national popularity, are the Clippers jealous of the Warriors?
After years of being in the NBA cellar, things started looking up for the Clippers when they drafted Blake Griffin with the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft, and by 2012 it looked like the Griffin/Chris Paul/DeAndre Jordan core would run the wild Western Conference for the forseeable future.
Around the same time the Clippers started their ascend up the West, the Warriors started their climb, drafting a bevy of key players to build around Stephen Curry in Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, and Festus Ezeli along with bringing in veterans like Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut. The rest is history, as the Warriors, almost out of nowhere, won the most recent NBA Finals and the Clippers, again, failed to reach the Western Conference Finals.
October 21, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers smiles during the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Clippers 125-107. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Doc Rivers is often times the one who adds fuel to the fire of this rivalry, whether it be hinting at Warrior luck through the media, or playfully talking trash on court with Draymond Green. What is important to remember is that if not for some questionable moves from “GM Doc,” the Clippers likely would have at least reached the Conference Finals by now. In 2013, Rivers was responsible for trading Eric Bledsoe for Jared Dudley and JJ Redick, when he could have kept Bledsoe and traded separately for Redick. In 2014 Doc traded Jared Dudley (one of their few capable wing defenders) for Chris Douglas-Roberts, former Warrior Ekpe Udoh, and a washed up Hedo Turkoglu. Just last season, Rivers traded Clippers assets for his, err…not so talented son Austin.
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Doc realized he wasn’t going anywhere without a bench, so he signed Paul Pierce and Josh Smith, and traded for Lance Stephenson to play alongside Jamal Crawford for the second unit. There is high upside with these additions, and it’s the best case scenario for the Clippers to have capable NBA players to come off the bench and match the Warriors’ depth. However if these guys don’t mesh and can’t play together or share the ball, they might drive Doc insane.
These two teams have been going at it all off-season, and there’s no doubt that anytime these teams play it becomes must watch TV. The Warriors are where Doc, Paul and the Clippers want to be, but to get to the top of the NBA food chain, the Clippers will have to get past the Warriors.
The Clipper core is still in its prime but the clock is ticking. The Clippers beat the Warriors in the first round two years ago, and it may take another series win against the Warriors or a trip to the Conference Finals to keep this Clipper core together. LA comes to Oracle Nov. 4, and there’s no doubt this will be as close to a playoff game as you can get in November. Can’t wait.