The Athletic: NBA execs around the league expect the gap between Clippers and Lakers to be significant

[NBAFan93]

...as does Paul George.

Paul George was going toe to toe against prime Lebron/Big 3 Heat in the ECFs. He's made the playoffs most of his career

AD's only been in the playoffs twice his entire career. One ended up getting swept. The other he only managed to win 1 playoff game before getting eliminated.

I agree AD has one of the lightest playoff resumes ever for a top 5 player, but PG also really disappointed in the last two playoffs. His supporters can say it was all Westbrook’s fault, but Westbrook sure seemed to do fine when he was with KD? Even by himself he put up a valiant fight. I know it doesn’t fit the narrative, but PG was a big let down in his two playoff appearances in the WC.

[Forte IV]

How do NBA execs get these jobs?

The fit on the Lakers is better than the Clippers but the Clippers have more talent from 1 to 8. The Lakers defense will be better, the Clippers offense will be better. I would say Clippers are slight favorites because they are younger.

How is the fit better on the Lakers when their 3 best players play the same position?

You do realize that PG and Kawhi are both SFs?

You do realize Paul George played SG for the Pacers with Danny Granger in Indiana and will do the same with the Clippers right?

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Agreed. LeBron has to go full God mode for the Lakers to beat LAC in my opinion. A lot of people are sleeping on Utah as well.

Full god mode? Who on the Clippers is going to check AD, he's averaging 27ppg in the playoffs and almost 30 with Draymond guarding him in 2 series.

You act as if 1 guy is going to score all their points lol. I've never understood this "but who's going to guard AD" argument. Of course he'll get his 30+ ppg. The Clippers just need to worry about shutting down everyone else. AD aint scoring 110 points.

Man, what is with you guys? Why would LeBron need to go "full god mode" when he has a teammate who routinely gets 30ppg against tough defenses in the playoffs? What is so hard to understand about that, unless you think the Clippers will shut down LeBron completely, if AD is being guarded by Harrell or Zubac he is going to be killing you, therefore "full god mode" from LeBron isn't really needed since his usual 27/7/7 is a big enough punch.

[Forte IV]

Full god mode? Who on the Clippers is going to check AD, he's averaging 27ppg in the playoffs and almost 30 with Draymond guarding him in 2 series.

You act as if 1 guy is going to score all their points lol. I've never understood this "but who's going to guard AD" argument. Of course he'll get his 30+ ppg. The Clippers just need to worry about shutting down everyone else. AD aint scoring 110 points.

Man, what is with you guys? Why would LeBron need to go "full god mode" when he has a teammate who routinely gets 30ppg against tough defenses in the playoffs? What is so hard to understand about that, unless you think the Clippers will shut down LeBron completely, if AD is being guarded by Harrell or Zubac he is going to be killing you, therefore "full god mode" from LeBron isn't really needed since his usual 27/7/7 is a big enough punch.

And why cant "you guys" understand basketball is a team game. Anthony Davis can score 50 for all I care. The Clippers just need to worry about everyone else. AD isn't scoring 110 points.

[OkcSinceSGA]

The only person that shuts down AD is Embiid, you're not stopping him with a 6'7 wing, he can actually shoot unlike Giannis.

Kawhi's wingspan is 7'4. Embiid's is 7'6. Closer than you think

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

Who said anything about wingspan? If your hope is that Kawhi can guard AD you may as well pencil him in for 40 now, Draymond gets lit up by him.

My bad, I skimmed and misread. You meant height. Although height of your head matters a hell of a lot less. Honestly with how often I see Embiid get pushed to the ground by smaller players due to his chicken legs and weak lower body, I do think Kawhi is probably stronger overall. I mean the guy broke a weight machine squating over 500 lbs (the max weight).

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

[Yogatti]

Man, what is with you guys? Why would LeBron need to go "full god mode" when he has a teammate who routinely gets 30ppg against tough defenses in the playoffs? What is so hard to understand about that, unless you think the Clippers will shut down LeBron completely, if AD is being guarded by Harrell or Zubac he is going to be killing you, therefore "full god mode" from LeBron isn't really needed since his usual 27/7/7 is a big enough punch.

0-4 against the Warriors in 2015
1-4 against the Warriors in 2018

Yeah he sure killed Draymond Green in both of those series.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Paul George was going toe to toe against prime Lebron/Big 3 Heat in the ECFs. He's made the playoffs most of his career

AD's only been in the playoffs twice his entire career. One ended up getting swept. The other he only managed to win 1 playoff game before getting eliminated.

I too think AD is overrated, but at least AD's play has held up in the playoffs. PG has too often completely underperformed. A few good games against the Big 3 Heat doesnt rewrite his poor playoff history.

Paul George last 5 playoff stats:

14: 22.6 ppg 7.6 rpg 3.8 apg
16: 27.3 ppg 7.6 rpg 4.3 apg
17: 28.0 ppg 8.8 rpg 7.3 apg
18: 24.7 ppg 6.0 rpg 2.7 apg
19: 28.6 ppg 8.6 rpg 3.6 apg

Oh but please keep telling me how Paul George doesn't show up.

This narrative is hilarious and I keep calling it out. PG's two series against LeBron were especially fantastic. He went toe to toe with PEAK LeBron and held his own.

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

[Catchall]

Full god mode? Who on the Clippers is going to check AD, he's averaging 27ppg in the playoffs and almost 30 with Draymond guarding him in 2 series.

Honestly Kawhi probably could, he shuts down everybody no matter the position

Also who on the Lakers guards PG? Kentavious Caldwell-brick?

The only person that shuts down AD is Embiid, you're not stopping him with a 6'7 wing, he can actually shoot unlike Giannis.

* Gobert has slowed him down a lot too.

[mademan]

Paul George was going toe to toe against prime Lebron/Big 3 Heat in the ECFs. He's made the playoffs most of his career

AD's only been in the playoffs twice his entire career. One ended up getting swept. The other he only managed to win 1 playoff game before getting eliminated.

I too think AD is overrated, but at least AD's play has held up in the playoffs. PG has too often completely underperformed. A few good games against the Big 3 Heat doesnt rewrite his poor playoff history.

Paul George last 5 playoff stats:

14: 22.6 ppg 7.6 rpg 3.8 apg
16: 27.3 ppg 7.6 rpg 4.3 apg
17: 28.0 ppg 8.8 rpg 7.3 apg
18: 24.7 ppg 6.0 rpg 2.7 apg
19: 28.6 ppg 8.6 rpg 3.6 apg

Oh but please keep telling me how Paul George doesn't show up.

He's playing 40 mpg, taking 20 shots a game and shooting at borderline league average efficiency. For a top tier star, that is underperforming. There's a reaosn cumulative box score stats, that take into account minutes played as well as efficiency rank him out as a lower tier star in the playoffs (aside from his 7 game series against the Raps).

14: 20.5 PER
16: 27.5 PER
17: 21 PER
18: 14.6 PER (Ingles took his lunch this series)
19: 18.8 PER

[Raps in 4]

I'm not sure I agree.

Kawhi and PG play the same position, which will create some overlap. They are also both very injury prone (not that AD isn't, and LeBron is old, but I'd argue that Kawhi and PG are more fragile overall). AD is also better than PG (aside from last season, which I'd argue was was an outlier for PG), while the gap between LeBron and Kawhi likely won't be as big as people think in the playoffs (but I could be underestimating how washed up LeBron is). I do also think the Clips supporting cast is overrated.

The Clippers are definitely the better team, but I don't think it's a huge gap.

I have GSW beating both.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

...as does Paul George.

Paul George was going toe to toe against prime Lebron/Big 3 Heat in the ECFs. He's made the playoffs most of his career

AD's only been in the playoffs twice his entire career. One ended up getting swept. The other he only managed to win 1 playoff game before getting eliminated.

LMAO

You may as well work for Fox News with this level of spin, PG loses to LeBron so it's no big deal, nevermind the Jazz and Joe Ingles killing him 2 years ago, or Lillard waving goodbye last year. But, AD is to blame for losing to the Warriors though...unreal.

[Catchall]

I'm going to laugh when these two teams have to match up in the first round of the playoffs. They deserve each other.

[Jcity08]

Paul George last 5 playoff stats:

14: 22.6 ppg 7.6 rpg 3.8 apg
16: 27.3 ppg 7.6 rpg 4.3 apg
17: 28.0 ppg 8.8 rpg 7.3 apg
18: 24.7 ppg 6.0 rpg 2.7 apg
19: 28.6 ppg 8.6 rpg 3.6 apg

Oh but please keep telling me how Paul George doesn't show up.

Okay, I'll be honest in saying I did not know PG nearly averaged a triple double in the playoffs, thats impressive. Playing in OKC really took a hit on his assist production.

[Don Ford]

The only person that shuts down AD is Embiid, you're not stopping him with a 6'7 wing, he can actually shoot unlike Giannis.

He seems pretty easy to shut down based on his playoff records...

Yes, but only if you consider holding him to 31pts/13 rebs/2.5blks to be "shutting him down"

BTW, Paul George's career playoff stats are 20/7/4asst.

[Yogatti]

To be fair, you really can't perform well when you have low IQ Westbrook as your teammate in the playoffs who cares more about getting his triple double than winning playoff games

[Forte IV]

[mademan]

I'm going to laugh when these two teams have to match up in the first round of the playoffs. They deserve each other.

4-5 series. I can easily see all of GSW/Denver/Rockets finishing above them. To be fair, the top of the West is very unpredictable. You got a lot of teams who think they should be getting HCA (LAL/LAC/HOU/GSW/DEN/POR/UTA)

[NoDopeOnSundays]

I'm going to laugh when these two teams have to match up in the first round of the playoffs. They deserve each other.

In a shocking twist the Clipper fans have been far more obnoxious so far, you can't even make a case for them not winning the next 12 titles without 15 of them swarming you.

[Yogatti]

You may as well work for Fox News with this level of spin, PG loses to LeBron so it's no big deal, nevermind the Jazz and Joe Ingles killing him 2 years ago, or Lillard waving goodbye last year. But, AD is to blame for losing to the Warriors though...unreal.

AD didn't even put up a fight. You want to give him all the credit for his playoff success(wait does he have any playoff success?) but deflect all the blame when he gets swept or get eliminated in 5 games.

PG losing to Lebron is a big deal because they were really close to beating the BIG 3 HEAT. But PG stilled played great in those series

[NoDopeOnSundays]

You may as well work for Fox News with this level of spin, PG loses to LeBron so it's no big deal, nevermind the Jazz and Joe Ingles killing him 2 years ago, or Lillard waving goodbye last year. But, AD is to blame for losing to the Warriors though...unreal.

AD didn't even put up a fight. You want to give him all the credit for his playoff success(wait does he have any playoff success?) but deflect all the blame when he gets swept or get eliminated in 5 games.

PG losing to Lebron is a big deal because they were really close to beating the BIG 3 HEAT. But PG stilled played great in those series

Watch on YouTube