Spoiler:
This Meeting:
Spoiler:
Background: Every day, I say the same thing: it's Lob City's fault. The Warriors have this dynasty because Lob City didn't take them seriously in 2012-13 season. Former Clips Nation editor in chief Steve Perrin agreed with me in the 2014 Clippers Season Wrap Up podcast of Wammy Radio. It took losing Game 1 in the 2014 NBA Playoffs for the Clippers to finally accept them as a threat. But even so, Lob City was no match for the Warriors once Golden State upgraded the coaching spot with Steve Kerr. Even with Mark Jackson as coach, the Clippers had a tendency of letting down against lesser teams, evidenced in their loss to the Lakers at the closing of the season. But there is no Mark Jackson, nor the Paul-Griffin tandem - should be a different series, right? No, because Doc Rivers is still there; after all he did mock their dynasty by saying the team got lucky. Warriors will not only look to avenge their NBA playoff loss, but cement their dynasty.
Why do I say this? Since the Warriors entered the playoffs in 2013, they have faced the following teams in order:
Repeat opponent | Lost
2013: Nuggets, Spurs
2014: Clippers
2015: Pelicans, Grizzlies, Rockets
2016: Rockets, Blazers, Thunder
2017: Blazers, Jazz, Spurs
2018: Spurs, Pelicans, Rockets
Their first playoff trip since We-Believe year was a 2nd round loss to the Spurs; Warriors avenged that in the Western Conference Finals of the 2017 playoffs. The Clippers are the only team the Warriors have yet to beat. If they win their series, the Warriors will have officially beaten all of their opponents at least once. What happens after this round, the Warriors control their own destiny, so I won't be writing their prediction.
On the Clippers side, ever since the 2014 NBA Playoffs, we all thought the rivalry would be over. The many spankings to Lob City by their Bay Area visitors in absurdly large margins revealed no love lost; in fact, the Warriors lusted for a rematch for years. However, the Clippers had a lot of internal problems. Ego, underestimating their opponents, looking ahead, in-fighting, Doc Rivers as coach/GM/father: all this brought about the end of Lob City, starting with Paul's change of allegience to Houston. Clippers had three chances at giving the casual fan that rematch, but they kept getting in their own way. Five years later, we finally have a rematch, only it's a David vs. Goliath type where the Warriors won't have Lob City. In its place, they'll be facing the Revenge Of The Role Players, a much weaker team in terms of talent disparity where their only source of strength is Captain Planet Heart. What they lack in skill, they make up for it in grit. Where big names made for big egos, no-names made for no-nonsense. Half Grizzlies, half Spurs, Doc Rivers will try to relive his Orlando days, hoping that this time, he'll have the Magic of the right kind.
Prediction: Automatic sweep. There's nothing the Clippers can do except to let the Warriors add their name to their dynasty bucket list. It will hurt their free agency chances, but it will be a good experience for the young guns in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Landry Shamet, Jerome Robinson, Ivica Zubac, Sindarius Thornwell and Tyrone Wallace. The NBA status quo where you must have a superstar to compete is as undefeated as Father Time. Give the Warriors a final chapter of the rivalry for the ages - make them work for the sweep.
And for Doc Rivers - for once, please take the loss with humility. No need to stir the ire of your opponents just because of your competitive fire. Let the rivalry die, have the Clippers face another opponent. It's possible the Lakers could get their act together. The Rockets took Paul away from you because of that 3-1 collapse. There is always something new, don't let old habits die hard.
