Who's the Better Team in Los Angeles?

[JoeyLightYears]

You misunderstood my statement. I am not suggesting the Clippers should start Harrell and Lou. People tend to focus on who is coming off the bench vs who is starting when talking about depth. Bev and Zubac are average starters. Their bench counterparts are better players. It would be like starting McGee (an average starter) and bringing cousins off the bench and bragging about depth - it doesn't matter who starts. It is about rotations. In other words the Lakers talent is equal to or greater than the Clippers.

Clippers closing lineup. Lou, Shamet, Kawhi, George, Harrell. With Beverley substituted in for Lou on defense sometimes.

Clippers were already pretty good in clutch situations last season thanks to Lou Williams. Now they are even better.
http://www.nbaminer.com/clutch-time-stats/

Beyond pretty good. Lou was #1 clutch scorer last year, Clippers #1 crunchtime team.

Ouch

[Johnny Tomala]

Why is this even a question?

Look where they are.

Lakers have two top 5 players. They are hunting for a championship.

Clippers have two top 10-15 players. They got sent out in the 2nd round.

AD becomes "Top 5" now, people were arguing that he was worse than PG. Kawhi was considered better than James, now people are backtracking.

AD was always Top 5 player. PG is nowhere near him, those who argued AD is worse than PG were simply trolls.

[JoeyLightYears]

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.

4/10 soon

[JoeyLightYears]

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.

Might have to wait another year. Wonder if that Lou/Harrell pick & roll will be working as well as it did against the Nuggets.

[OkcSinceSGA]

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.

Might have to wait another year. Wonder if that Lou/Harrell pick & roll will be working as well as it did against the Nuggets.

These posts were in reference to H2H. Not sure why this bump is relevant now? Davis averaged like 3 ppg on 35% shooting vs the Clippers in 4th quarters this year if I am remembering correctly while going 2-2. The Clippers still had a small edge in H2H in a vacuum, they just choked vs the Nuggets. Clippers have been eliminated like 2 weeks now, may be more healthy for you to just focus on the Lakers and enjoy their likely championship rather than bumping preseason threads about different topics. This thread was pure speculation like 4 months before the season...

[cursedsportsfan]

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.

Lol. How can someone get so much wrong in one post.

[JoeyLightYears]

These posts were in reference to H2H. Not sure why this bump is relevant now? Davis averaged like 3 ppg on 35% shooting vs the Clippers in 4th quarters this year if I am remembering correctly while going 2-2. The Clippers still had a small edge in H2H in a vacuum, they just choked vs the Nuggets. Clippers have been eliminated like 2 weeks now, may be more healthy for you to just focus on the Lakers and enjoy their likely championship rather than bumping preseason threads about different topics. This thread was pure speculation like 4 months before the season...

Never mind me, I'm just clowning you. It's funny in retrospect to see how these comments played out. I'm not a Lakers fan btw, but I do believe LeBron is so much better than Kawhi as a leader and ultimately that's the difference here.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Total humiliation.

[Dupp]

I’m sure I thought the clippers too.

Lakers supporting cast turned out way better.

[mademan]

These posts were in reference to H2H. Not sure why this bump is relevant now? Davis averaged like 3 ppg on 35% shooting vs the Clippers in 4th quarters this year if I am remembering correctly while going 2-2. The Clippers still had a small edge in H2H in a vacuum, they just choked vs the Nuggets. Clippers have been eliminated like 2 weeks now, may be more healthy for you to just focus on the Lakers and enjoy their likely championship rather than bumping preseason threads about different topics. This thread was pure speculation like 4 months before the season...

Lakers are built for the playoffs, Clips arent. They were 2-2 on the RS with the Lakers winning the back 2 (all the games were competitive tho). Clips continued to be the inconsistent 'who the heck knows what you're getting' team in the playoffs while the Lakers got better, even down a starter.

I think Clips should be happy they lost the way they did. They'd get clowned more if they had lost in 5 to the Lakers (which they likely would have).

[Dupp]

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.

Might have to wait another year. Wonder if that Lou/Harrell pick & roll will be working as well as it did against the Nuggets.

These posts were in reference to H2H. Not sure why this bump is relevant now? Davis averaged like 3 ppg on 35% shooting vs the Clippers in 4th quarters this year if I am remembering correctly while going 2-2. The Clippers still had a small edge in H2H in a vacuum, they just choked vs the Nuggets. Clippers have been eliminated like 2 weeks now, may be more healthy for you to just focus on the Lakers and enjoy their likely championship rather than bumping preseason threads about different topics. This thread was pure speculation like 4 months before the season...

The clips did not “just choke” vs the nuggets. A lot of very fundamental flaws were exposed. Nuggets were legit the better team and shouldn’t have let it get to 3-1. The series going 7 flattered the clips.

[OkcSinceSGA]

These posts were in reference to H2H. Not sure why this bump is relevant now? Davis averaged like 3 ppg on 35% shooting vs the Clippers in 4th quarters this year if I am remembering correctly while going 2-2. The Clippers still had a small edge in H2H in a vacuum, they just choked vs the Nuggets. Clippers have been eliminated like 2 weeks now, may be more healthy for you to just focus on the Lakers and enjoy their likely championship rather than bumping preseason threads about different topics. This thread was pure speculation like 4 months before the season...

Never mind me, I'm just clowning you. It's funny in retrospect to see how these comments played out. I'm not a Lakers fan btw, but I do believe LeBron is so much better than Kawhi as a leader and ultimately that's the difference here.

I thought you were a Lakers fan. Either way, I think the Lakers proved 90% of people WRONG who thought the Clippers were better on paper (including me). At the end of the day, I guess myself and most overlooked the intangibles. I didn't expect the Lakers to be the team that got along better, were harder working, had better chemistry, better leadership etc. The Lakers on paper seemed more likely to struggle to gel, and instead it was the complete opposite. Clippers ended up being the softer, lazier and less cohesive group some how. I agree btw that LeBron made a statement this run in the Kawhi hype. While Kawhi folded under pressure, LeBron carried a lot of load in his age 35 season.

[OkcSinceSGA]

These posts were in reference to H2H. Not sure why this bump is relevant now? Davis averaged like 3 ppg on 35% shooting vs the Clippers in 4th quarters this year if I am remembering correctly while going 2-2. The Clippers still had a small edge in H2H in a vacuum, they just choked vs the Nuggets. Clippers have been eliminated like 2 weeks now, may be more healthy for you to just focus on the Lakers and enjoy their likely championship rather than bumping preseason threads about different topics. This thread was pure speculation like 4 months before the season...

Lakers are built for the playoffs, Clips arent. They were 2-2 on the RS with the Lakers winning the back 2 (all the games were competitive tho). Clips continued to be the inconsistent 'who the heck knows what you're getting' team in the playoffs while the Lakers got better, even down a starter.

I think Clips should be happy they lost the way they did. They'd get clowned more if they had lost in 5 to the Lakers (which they likely would have).

Naw. At least losing to the Lakers it wouldn't be as surprising or devastating. Lakers are clearly a better team than Denver and at least the Clippers would have their first WCF appearance. I wouldn't say roster wise the Clippers weren't built for it though. I truly think there was a mental/leadership/chemistry breakdown in the playoffs. They still easily had the more talented top to bottom roster IMO. Problem is... it's like having a 10 inch peen and not knowing how to use it. Having all of that size means nothing if you don't know what you're doing!

Clippers had an excess of talent, but a deficiency of mental toughness, focus, discipline and healthy mentality. I definitely think putting two passive superstars like Kawhi/PG together was a disaster. Instead of PG we needed a guy like Butler/Beal/CP3 etc who will actually rally the team and go after people who need it. At the end of the day IF they can convince Kawhi to stay and make smart moves this will be better long term. Getting Doc out is the key to raising the ceiling and maximizing potential. Of course to finish this deal, they have to hire the right coach.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Might have to wait another year. Wonder if that Lou/Harrell pick & roll will be working as well as it did against the Nuggets.

These posts were in reference to H2H. Not sure why this bump is relevant now? Davis averaged like 3 ppg on 35% shooting vs the Clippers in 4th quarters this year if I am remembering correctly while going 2-2. The Clippers still had a small edge in H2H in a vacuum, they just choked vs the Nuggets. Clippers have been eliminated like 2 weeks now, may be more healthy for you to just focus on the Lakers and enjoy their likely championship rather than bumping preseason threads about different topics. This thread was pure speculation like 4 months before the season...

The clips did not “just choke” vs the nuggets. A lot of very fundamental flaws were exposed. Nuggets were legit the better team and shouldn’t have let it get to 3-1. The series going 7 flattered the clips.

Any time you're up 3-1 and up 16 in game 5 mid 3rd... and lose.. you choked. Their win odds that game were up to 98%. Then in game 6 they were 19 at the same point in the game and lost. Denver deserves a lot of credit for their gameplan and talent, but ANYONE who loses after being up 3-1 pretty much choked. You have rare instances where the team down 1-3 (such as Magic vs Pistons under Doc) is the much better team, and it's dumb luck or focus, but the Clippers were clearly a lot more talented.

[Harry Garris]

I’m sure I thought the clippers too.

Lakers supporting cast turned out way better.

The only reason I thought the Lakers might be better was because of how bad PG was in the playoffs the past couple of years in OKC. I had no idea that not only PG would get even worse, but he'd also affect half of the team along with him.

[Dupp]

These posts were in reference to H2H. Not sure why this bump is relevant now? Davis averaged like 3 ppg on 35% shooting vs the Clippers in 4th quarters this year if I am remembering correctly while going 2-2. The Clippers still had a small edge in H2H in a vacuum, they just choked vs the Nuggets. Clippers have been eliminated like 2 weeks now, may be more healthy for you to just focus on the Lakers and enjoy their likely championship rather than bumping preseason threads about different topics. This thread was pure speculation like 4 months before the season...

The clips did not “just choke” vs the nuggets. A lot of very fundamental flaws were exposed. Nuggets were legit the better team and shouldn’t have let it get to 3-1. The series going 7 flattered the clips.

Any time you're up 3-1 and up 16 in game 5 mid 3rd... and lose.. you choked. Their win odds that game were up to 98%. Then in game 6 they were 19 at the same point in the game and lost. Denver deserves a lot of credit for their gameplan and talent, but ANYONE who loses after being up 3-1 pretty much choked. You have rare instances where the team down 1-3 (such as Magic vs Pistons under Doc) is the much better team, and it's dumb luck or focus, but the Clippers were clearly a lot more talented.

The clippers aren’t more talented though...

[Homer38]

the poll was like 106-83 this morning for the clippers....

[OkcSinceSGA]

The clips did not “just choke” vs the nuggets. A lot of very fundamental flaws were exposed. Nuggets were legit the better team and shouldn’t have let it get to 3-1. The series going 7 flattered the clips.

Any time you're up 3-1 and up 16 in game 5 mid 3rd... and lose.. you choked. Their win odds that game were up to 98%. Then in game 6 they were 19 at the same point in the game and lost. Denver deserves a lot of credit for their gameplan and talent, but ANYONE who loses after being up 3-1 pretty much choked. You have rare instances where the team down 1-3 (such as Magic vs Pistons under Doc) is the much better team, and it's dumb luck or focus, but the Clippers were clearly a lot more talented.

The clippers aren’t more talented though...

The Clippers were considered stacked all year for a reason. They had 3x the net rating and SRS of Denver for a reason. They had the 6th man winner and runner up for a reason. There is literally nobody with sense that should argue Denver is more talented roster wise or on paper than the Clippers. Denver is much better coached, mentally tougher and guys stepped up.. but raw talent wise it's literally not a close comparison. Clippers got 95 ppg from 5 players.

To imply Denver was more talented and expected to win this seems like a dishonest angle to me. Bottom line is the Clippers should have won this series and failed miserably. Don't give them an out by saying Denver was more talented.

[Dupp]

Any time you're up 3-1 and up 16 in game 5 mid 3rd... and lose.. you choked. Their win odds that game were up to 98%. Then in game 6 they were 19 at the same point in the game and lost. Denver deserves a lot of credit for their gameplan and talent, but ANYONE who loses after being up 3-1 pretty much choked. You have rare instances where the team down 1-3 (such as Magic vs Pistons under Doc) is the much better team, and it's dumb luck or focus, but the Clippers were clearly a lot more talented.

The clippers aren’t more talented though...

The Clippers were considered stacked all year for a reason. They had 3x the net rating and SRS of Denver for a reason. They had the 6th man winner and runner up for a reason. There is literally nobody with sense that should argue Denver is more talented roster wise or on paper than the Clippers. Denver is much better coached, mentally tougher and guys stepped up.. but raw talent wise it's literally not a close comparison. Clippers got 95 ppg from 5 players.

To imply Denver was more talented and expected to win this seems like a dishonest angle to me. Bottom line is the Clippers should have won this series and failed miserably. Don't give them an out by saying Denver was more talented.

I didn’t expect nuggets to win and I thought clippers were way better and way more talented than they are. I was wrong but in hindsight I don’t really think the clips were clearly more talented. The top 2 for Denver I think are very clearly more talented than the clippers top 2.( kawhi vs joker is a debate though)

3 down though you can give it to the clippers. It’s not huge though. Their “ talent” was exaggerated. People expected Lou to get exposed in the playoffs and he did, Harrell is a midget, Beverly is the most overrated defender in the league and very average offensively.

I dunno maybe “talent” isn’t the right word but Denver’s roster construction is better and they had guys in roles that worked and those guys were able to fulfil their roles.




Clippers holes are glaring though and I’m not sure they would have beaten a healthy Dallas.


1) Coach - terrible
2) Leadership - terrible
3) experience - it played a factor. I think a lot of guys that weren’t kawhi thought it’d be easier than it is
4) front court - not very good or big
5) playmakers - where are they?
6) PGs fragile mind

They aren’t in a bad spot though. Some tinkering and they will compete for a title. People that thought they were clear favourites like myself were very wrong and undersells the importance of their holes. I though playmaking was a big issue but some of the other stuff I didn’t worry about.

[LBC SoCal]

I'll make it easy for you:

56 56 33.0 9.5-18.3 51.7 0.9-2.6 33.1 6.1-7.7 79.4 3.1 8.9 12.0 3.9 2.4 1.6 2.4 2.0 25.9
77 77 36.9 9.2-21.0 43.8 3.8-9.8 38.6 5.9-7.0 83.9 1.4 6.8 8.2 4.1 0.4 2.2 2.8 2.7 28.0

AD has a PER of 30 and Paul George 23. While this stat has its flaws - it doesn't usually have a 7 point flaw difference.

I just can't believe that someone is claiming Paul George is a better player than AD. Paul George is a superstar, but AD is borderline megastar (made up words -- but I think the sentiment is understood).

If the argument was that Kawhi is better than AD, you'd have no arguments from me, but Paul George? C'mon.

From best to worse:
LeBron Kawhi
Anthony Davis
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Paul George

You were so right. Well done.