Who's the Better Team in Los Angeles?

[AJ_Joseph]

How many minutes for PG on AD? Because AD is going throw a party on him.

AD actually struggled badly last year when Harrell guarded him

You mean when he put up 46 and 16?

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201901140LAC.html

[bigjay23]

Lakers deeper and more star power but they shouldn’t have resigned kcp he sucks


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[Jagic Mohnson]

i dont know, im not that impressed by the kawhi clippers as i was with the blake, cp3, deandre teams.

i still think pg 13 is weak mentally and kawhi has never won a legit title as the number 1. his spur title was as a role player and his raptor title vs the warriors was due to injuries of kd and klay.

people forget lebron with kuzma as his 2nd bets player was within 1 and a half games of 2nd place almost midway through the season before he pulled his groin and missed 18 games.

[ZB9]

Clippers no doubt

[AJ_Joseph]

i dont know, im not that impressed by the kawhi clippers as i was with the blake, cp3, deandre teams.

i still think pg 13 is weak mentally and kawhi has never won a legit title as the number 1. his spur title was as a role player and his raptor title vs the warriors was due to injuries of kd and klay.

people forget lebron with kuzma as his 2nd bets player was within 1 and a half games of 2nd place almost midway through the season before he pulled his groin and missed 18 games.

Paul George is an underachiever in the playoffs. He once scored 6 points in an elimination game in 2018 against the Jazz. LeBron is the GOAT playoff performer, and although Davis hasn't been deep into the playoffs, his averages are RIDICULOUS: 31 PPG, 13 REBS and 3 BLK in 13 career playoff games (many of them against the Warriors, too).

Oh, and LeBron owns Paul George.

[OkcSinceSGA]

How many minutes for PG on AD? Because AD is going throw a party on him.

AD actually struggled badly last year when Harrell guarded him

You mean when he put up 46 and 16?

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201901140LAC.html

Yea, 35% shooting against Harrell. When Harrell went to the bench and he was guarded by our 3rd stringers he went off. Not sure why Lakers fans keep making themselves look bad with referencing this game. Look at the shooting data.

[tsirigoj]

AD actually struggled badly last year when Harrell guarded him

You mean when he put up 46 and 16?

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201901140LAC.html

Yea, 35% shooting against Harrell. When Harrell went to the bench and he was guarded by our 3rd stringers he went off. Not sure why Lakers fans keep making themselves look bad with referencing this game. Look at the shooting data.

Yeah. No one sees 35%, everyone sees 46 and 16.

But lets play this game. Harrell guards AD. Who's covering Cousins? Put him on the post, he'll eat.

[TJ_Ford_11]

Kahwi>LeBron
George>Davis
Clippers>Lakers

[Catchall]

You lost me at Rondo.

Then I mustered the will to return, and you lost me again at Cousins.

The Lakers' starting 5 might be one of the bottom 8-10 outside shooting teams in the league next year. You can't win like that in today's game. Lebron and AD need space to operate.

Demarcus Cousins has always been a defensive liability who can't run the floor, and that was before his injury. Anyone notice that the Pels were just as good, if not better, when Cousins went out with his injury a couple years ago? Davis is more productive when he doesn't share the floor with Cousins.

Did you actually WATCH the games?

There were times (many, many times) when Cousins was CARRYING the team.

Even in the finals against the Raptors this past season, there were moments when Cousins was looking like the best player on the team (very sporadically, but it was there).

The fact is, the Clips don't have anyone that'll be able to cover Cousins. Zubac was fun to watch at times, but he STRUGGLES with those much stronger bigs.

Yes, I watched the games. Nick Nurse took advantage of Cousins every time he was out there. Letting Cousins take possessions away from Steph and Klay is a good strategy. Good luck giving Cousins anything more than spot minutes.

[OkcSinceSGA]

i dont know, im not that impressed by the kawhi clippers as i was with the blake, cp3, deandre teams.

i still think pg 13 is weak mentally and kawhi has never won a legit title as the number 1. his spur title was as a role player and his raptor title vs the warriors was due to injuries of kd and klay.

people forget lebron with kuzma as his 2nd bets player was within 1 and a half games of 2nd place almost midway through the season before he pulled his groin and missed 18 games.

Paul George is an underachiever in the playoffs. He once scored 6 points in an elimination game in 2018 against the Jazz. LeBron is the GOAT playoff performer, and although Davis hasn't been deep into the playoffs, his averages are RIDICULOUS: 31 PPG, 13 REBS and 3 BLK in 13 career playoff games (many of them against the Warriors, too).

Oh, and LeBron owns Paul George.

This kind of arguing is fallacious in more than one way, I'll explain why.

1. Lakers fans bringing up that Lebron is a better playoff performer historically (true) without talking about the fact that Lebron had his first decline year last year, where as PG is just now peaking and Lebron will be 35 soon with a million miles on him. Yes, Lebron's career stats are more impressive. He's discussed as a GOAT, Paul George is barely now peaking into a superstar. It has nothing to do with the coming years whatsoever. Lebron has PLENTY of laughable choke moments like the 2011 finals duds, and that was at his absolute peak when people were comparing him to the likes of Michael Jordan. Different expectations for the two players discussed here.

2. Paul George hasn't underachieved as badly as people make it out. The last 6 years in the playoffs he averages 26/8/4 basically. His efficiency in 3 or 4 runs was no doubt mediocre for his stature, but in 1 run was star level, another superstar level metrics wise. Not as dominant as Lebron was before (nobody said he was), but he was still carrying a pretty big load. This was WITHOUT a supporting superstar like Kawhi to shoulder the load and the overall talent of this current Clippers team to prevent teams from locking in on shutting him down.


Again let me end this by saying Lebron is 35 in December with 15 years on his body and more miles/wear and tear than any 35 year old in history maybe. I'd guess he's played at least 50% more minutes/games to this point than 35 year old Michael Jordan due to finals runs every single year nearly+coming out of HS. This is more that PG is just now peaking, Lebron is leaving his prime than PG is better than 2012 Lebron etc.

[Catchall]

Kahwi>LeBron
George>Davis
Clippers>Lakers

I don't know that PG is better than Davis. Most people felt the opposite was true prior to last year, when Davis basically tanked the season.

[OkcSinceSGA]

You mean when he put up 46 and 16?

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201901140LAC.html

Yea, 35% shooting against Harrell. When Harrell went to the bench and he was guarded by our 3rd stringers he went off. Not sure why Lakers fans keep making themselves look bad with referencing this game. Look at the shooting data.

Yeah. No one sees 35%, everyone sees 46 and 16.

But lets play this game. Harrell guards AD. Who's covering Cousins? Put him on the post, he'll eat.

He was guarded by Harrell on 77 shots last season and shot a whopping 36%. Not exactly good for him when discussing how nobody will guard him. AD/Cousins playing together will be easy to expose defensively TBH. I'll take the inefficient 20 points Cousins will give for his slow footed defense and inability to stop quicker players now. Not saying AD won't get his. He will. He's a superstar. I'm just saying the whole "Who's gonna stop Davis!?" angle is overplayed by Lakers fans. When you find a way for the Lakers to stop the Lou/Harrell PNR that murdered them last year+Kawhi and PG... I'll find someone to stop Lebron and AD.

Lakers are going to be overmatched by this team and I can't wait to see it.

[facothomas22]

Clippers, and I don't even think it is close.

The Lakers health is a mega concern, so is depth. The west is tough and I think it takes a toll on them very harshly.

Yea this isn't close. Like at all.It's like comparing the Rockets to the Mavericks simply becasue they are on the same division. I see nothing that Lakers do that better than the Clippers,however there's many things that Clippers far better in than the Lakers.Also I be surprised if the Clippers don't get the first seed and atleast make to the Conference finals if not finals,while I see Lakers being soildly out of the playoffs yet again with the roster they have.

[FlyingArrow]

if everyone are healthy it's not really close.

I agree it's not close but I disagree about which team is ahead.

[gts1]

If it was a best 2 out of 3 with players at 100% healthy, I’d go Lakers. With LeBron turning 35 in 5 months and injury history, have to say Clippers.

Wait Lebron misses a quarter of the season with a groin pull, his first real injury ever, Kawhi misses basically an entire season with a thigh strain that popped up again in this years playoffs and Lebron is the one with the injury history? Judging by their actual injury histories I'd say it's more of a worry for the Clippers than the Lakers

[OkcSinceSGA]

If it was a best 2 out of 3 with players at 100% healthy, I’d go Lakers. With LeBron turning 35 in 5 months and injury history, have to say Clippers.

Wait Lebron misses a quarter of the season with a groin pull, his first real injury ever, Kawhi misses basically an entire season with a thigh strain that popped up again in this years playoffs and Lebron is the one with the injury history? Judging by their actual injury histories I'd say it's more of a worry for the Clippers than the Lakers

Injuries shouldn't be a knock on either team, or both. Both teams have plenty of injury prone key guys. The main thing for me is how Lebron is going to decline due to AGE, not injury. Last year, even pre injury his efficiency dropped a ton, similar to CP3. Then he came back supposedly healthy and told the media "Playoff mode activated" or whatever and the team lost 12 of 15 and his efficiency stayed down. He showed maybe for the first time of his career that he really can't carry the load he previously did. So Lakers fans who hated on this guy enough to sabotage murals of him in LA and spent 10 years bashing him in Kobe talks... suddenly are acting like we are getting prime Lebron?

You guys don't truly believe this ****. You can't possibly. It's more of a defiance that the Lakers were expected to finally be the better LA team again and the Clippers gave them a big middle finger basically by overshadowing their acquisitions. I KNOW Lakers fans can't truly believe Lakers have the better team top to bottom, then use incredibly farfetched things as the premises (like Cousins will kill it, Lebron will be the best player of the 4 stars etc).

[BoWagner]

Hahaha No.

Once again,it's a bad comparison. The Clippers will be a Championship team,not only next season,but many seasons to come,while the Lakers probably won't even make the playoffs.The Clippers have a better and younger star players(both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are under 30 years old,while Lebron James is 34,turning 35 years old in December),they have way better coach,way better roster Depth,way better role players, will likely have way better team chemistry.The Lakers don't have any advantage in any area over the Clippers,but have many huge disadvantages in many important areas.If people are expecting the Lakers to win 50+ games and make it atleast to the second of the playoffs, they will be highly disappointed.

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[LKN]

Lebron and AD are (probably) better than Kawhi and George (assuming health and no serious Lebron decline)... but the Clippers have much better depth and shooting.

The Lakers have a lot of variance - it's hard to tell right now how good they will be. Some older guys and some guys coming off injury and guys with health issues.

They only have about 3 players right now that look certain to be quality playoff guys.... but they have other players who could either come back strong (Boogie) or improve (Kuzma, Caruso).

I also still think the Lakers are pretty weak on the perimeter - they have one guy who is both a plus defender and plus 3 point shooter on the perimeter (Green). The Clippers have many - Kawhi, George, Beverly, etc.

[howlin mad axer]

The Lakers are the better team, easy.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Which other GOAT candidate in NBA history is 3 for 9 in the finals? Despite playing with two supposed "Big 3's" in 7 of those finals appearances.