Game 45: Golden State Warriors (31-14) @ Los Angeles Clippers (24-20) - 7:30 PM PT
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 8:05 pm
(To Ducler: I'm taking this one. Please post your picture info via reply)
On November 3, 2012, the Clippers suffered a lopsided defeat to their future foil Golden State Warriors. It was a loss rooted in entitlement over their miraculous 27-point comeback versus Memphis Grizzlies to their season series win in the 2012 Lockout Playoffs, mixed with underestimation of their opponent, believing that lottery teams will never change. The Clippers not only never led the game in this meeting, it would be a foreshadowing of the events that would come afterwards.
1. Season series defeat to Warriors on Martin Luther King Day, 2013, becoming first team to achieve the feat before Thunder followed.
2. Was first team to get Blake Griffin ejected from a game with more than 5 minutes remaining, and was nearly contemplated into a trade for Carmelo Anthony as a result (which never happened).
3. Lose 10 games in a row to Steve Kerr Warriors, en route to becoming next Lakers-Timberwolves. Timberwolves had the distinction of a 20-game losing streak to Lakers ever since they traded Kevin Garnett to Celtics in 2008.
It took losing Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Playoffs for the Clippers to finally take the Warriors seriously. What better proof of that than a 40-point revenge blowout in Game 2. And almost as if it were sentient, the Clipper Curse surprised the world with the release of the Donald Sterling tapes, a double-edge sword that saw incontrovertible evidence of his evil ways leading to his eventual banishment but also its way of keeping the Clippers eternally lottery bound. The Warriors saw their defeat to the Clippers as a fluke, empowered by the Sterling scandal and Doc Rivers efforts into guiding them through the darkest path the Clippers had ever been, and have since then made all their meetings personal.
The return of DeMarcus Cousins will only help the Warriors cause, who had a deep hatred for Chris Paul and his floppy antics. But the Warriors aren't facing the Lob City Clippers anymore, this is the role player Clippers who were forced to give up Chris Paul to the Rockets as punishment for their 3-1 collapse in 2015, and their beloved Blake Griffin in order to rebuild properly. The Warriors first ever defeat since the disbandment of Lob City required a career high 50 PTS from reigning Sixth Man award winner Lou Williams on a roster that was teetering between playoff contention and the lottery. This Clippers got their first ever opening win of the series since the 2012 Lockout Season, and their reward was watching the Warriors experience the same pain and anguish the Clippers had felt every time they've faced them. But those days of Schadenfreude could be over, now that the Warriors have one of the best centers since having Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960's, with an All-Star appearance to boot. As history has proven time and time again, the worst things always happen to the Clippers.
Tonight's game could be a feeler. The Clippers are once again the Warrior's guinea pigs as a taste of things to come for the entire NBA. But the Warriors have something else in mind: they want the Clippers as an 8th seed. They want to defeat them once and for all, to get back for their fluke defeat in 2014 Playoffs, and to close the chapter on their lopsided rivalry. For the Clippers, it's a fork-road game: win, we'll see a rematch. Lose, they probably tank. But even then, we might not get a clear answer of the Clippers intentions for this season until the final game versus Lakers...
Where it could end up becoming a playoff qualifier.
On November 3, 2012, the Clippers suffered a lopsided defeat to their future foil Golden State Warriors. It was a loss rooted in entitlement over their miraculous 27-point comeback versus Memphis Grizzlies to their season series win in the 2012 Lockout Playoffs, mixed with underestimation of their opponent, believing that lottery teams will never change. The Clippers not only never led the game in this meeting, it would be a foreshadowing of the events that would come afterwards.
1. Season series defeat to Warriors on Martin Luther King Day, 2013, becoming first team to achieve the feat before Thunder followed.
2. Was first team to get Blake Griffin ejected from a game with more than 5 minutes remaining, and was nearly contemplated into a trade for Carmelo Anthony as a result (which never happened).
3. Lose 10 games in a row to Steve Kerr Warriors, en route to becoming next Lakers-Timberwolves. Timberwolves had the distinction of a 20-game losing streak to Lakers ever since they traded Kevin Garnett to Celtics in 2008.
It took losing Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Playoffs for the Clippers to finally take the Warriors seriously. What better proof of that than a 40-point revenge blowout in Game 2. And almost as if it were sentient, the Clipper Curse surprised the world with the release of the Donald Sterling tapes, a double-edge sword that saw incontrovertible evidence of his evil ways leading to his eventual banishment but also its way of keeping the Clippers eternally lottery bound. The Warriors saw their defeat to the Clippers as a fluke, empowered by the Sterling scandal and Doc Rivers efforts into guiding them through the darkest path the Clippers had ever been, and have since then made all their meetings personal.
The return of DeMarcus Cousins will only help the Warriors cause, who had a deep hatred for Chris Paul and his floppy antics. But the Warriors aren't facing the Lob City Clippers anymore, this is the role player Clippers who were forced to give up Chris Paul to the Rockets as punishment for their 3-1 collapse in 2015, and their beloved Blake Griffin in order to rebuild properly. The Warriors first ever defeat since the disbandment of Lob City required a career high 50 PTS from reigning Sixth Man award winner Lou Williams on a roster that was teetering between playoff contention and the lottery. This Clippers got their first ever opening win of the series since the 2012 Lockout Season, and their reward was watching the Warriors experience the same pain and anguish the Clippers had felt every time they've faced them. But those days of Schadenfreude could be over, now that the Warriors have one of the best centers since having Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960's, with an All-Star appearance to boot. As history has proven time and time again, the worst things always happen to the Clippers.
Tonight's game could be a feeler. The Clippers are once again the Warrior's guinea pigs as a taste of things to come for the entire NBA. But the Warriors have something else in mind: they want the Clippers as an 8th seed. They want to defeat them once and for all, to get back for their fluke defeat in 2014 Playoffs, and to close the chapter on their lopsided rivalry. For the Clippers, it's a fork-road game: win, we'll see a rematch. Lose, they probably tank. But even then, we might not get a clear answer of the Clippers intentions for this season until the final game versus Lakers...
Where it could end up becoming a playoff qualifier.
