Chris Paul and the Warriors

[DoItALL9]

CP3 needs Ayton to play like an all-NBA caliber Center to defeat GSW in a series this year.

Being an all-defensive second team caliber guy won't be enough.

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[DoItALL9]

He played well yesterday but Curry won't be off like that for two weeks

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[Wammy Giveaway]

Let's go back to 2012-13 season: Clippers coming off their first playoff visit since the Cassell-Brand one season wonder in 2006. Second game of that season, Clippers treated Warriors as a lottery team because they missed the 2012 NBA Playoffs. Feeling sorry for them, Clippers gave Warriors the first three quarters just so Golden State can feel good about themselves before Clippers steal win in 4th. That was the worst thing they've ever done, for it jump started the Warriors return to the playoffs in 2013. Warriors won season series 3-1 and ended up reaching the 2nd round, while Clippers were eliminated in the 1st round by the Grizzlies in a playoffs rematch.

Warriors were the first team to get Blake Griffin ejected from a game with more than five minutes left in 4th quarter. That loss was so embarassing that Clippers nearly traded Griffin for Carmelo Anthony just to get revenge for that unfair ejection. All the while, Clippers refused to admit that Warriors were better - it took losing Game 1 in the 2014 NBA Playoffs to be finally convinced that they were real.

Keep in mind, the Clippers-Warriors series took place during the middle of a scandal surrounding former owner Donald Sterling. The audio tapes were so vile and demoralizing that Clippers basically punted away Game 4. Had it not been for Adam Silver banning Sterling for life and forcing the sale of the team, Clippers would have lost the series. I don't want to say that the Clippers winning the series in 7 games was a fluke on account of the scandal, but Sterling's ouster surely galvanized the team. Meanwhile, Warriors felt that their defeat was a fluke, but they didn't want to take any chances, hence the coaching change from Mark Jackson to Steve Kerr.

Since the 2014 NBA Playoffs, there were at least three chances the Clippers could have given us the long awaited rematch, but it never came to pass. Warriors wanted a rematch with Clippers badly, but as always, Clippers just screw everything up. It's either a Doc Rivers thing, a player thing, a divine intervention thing, there was always something that prevented this fabled rematch. We would not get said rematch until 2019, when Lob City had already been disbanded. Instead of the Paul-Griffin duo, Golden State got the Revenge Of The Role Players, a roster comprised of rookies, specialists, castaways, wash-ups, has-beens and never-wases - not a single player on that team had ever made an All-Star Game. It wasn't the same, but at least Warriors finally got their revenge, winning the playoffs in six games. Ironically, the year the Warriors got their revenge, the Fantastic 4 era of Curry-Thompson-Durant-Green ended following their loss to the Raptors in the NBA Finals.

Keeping with the topic of Chris Paul, Warriors did defeat him twice, but as a Rocket. Probably the reason why Paul was unable to defeat Dubs as a Rocket may have been due to his feelings towards Clippers after their falling out from their 2015 3-1 collapse, which saw DeAndre Jordan leaving Clippers to join Mavericks before the emoji war happened. In other words, he was distracted. He wanted revenge on his former team for tarnishing his Hall Of Fame resume, not to mention trading for his arch nemesis Rajon Rondo - the very player who ruined his career by subtly spitting at him to goad him into a punch that would get him ejected and suspended. If you want proof that Paul cared more about defeating the Clippers than winning a title, look no further than his matching playoff career high of 40 PTS in Game 6, followed by getting Patrick Beverley ejected, all this on the road, resulting in his first ever NBA Finals berth.

It was clear, if he wanted to defeat Warriors, he would have to defeat his past. Got his revenge on Lakers for being the team that sent him out of New Orleans. Got his revenge on Nuggets for one of the worst playoffs blowouts in NBA history. Made his match with Clippers a personal affair. With all his issues now fully settled, I think Paul will finally be able to defeat Curry and Warriors without any distractions.

[bwgood77]

There's always something about CP3 being on teams that somehow have bigger problems with ownership whether it was NO(George Shinn going broke and selling the team to the league), LAC(Sterling was a known prick and the fact David Stern allowed him to stay around for as long as he did was a joke), Houston(tightwad Tillman) or Phoenix(Sarver being a cheapskate and having a hit article showing a socially inept clown). Maybe it was karma for him grabbing a dude's nus in college.

Best thing to happen to the Warriors fan base was the IRS going after Chris Cohan. It's truly scary to think what would've happened if that didn't happen.

No it's not karma.

It's him playing on incompetent franchises his whole career. Him joining the teams and making them good is what made you guys forget how poorly they were ran.

I always find it interesting how when CP3 joins teams they suddenly improve tremendously and he gets them really far and are a tough out in the playoffs, and then when they finally usually simply just face TOO much talent (or last year you could even say only Crowder had even really played in the playoffs before at all), it's suddenly him choking. I mean in the finals last year he shot 55%, 52% from 3 with over 8 apg and most every game was close...and the Bucks had been the best team for a few years while the Suns hadn't even made the playoffs in a decade and won 19 games 2 years before.

For some the narrative was still that he choked.

But he took a Clips team that was a laughing stock for decades to a contender for years, then he goes to Houston and has them ready to knock out GS before getting injured, and then goes to OKC who no one expected to even come close to making the playoffs and they tie for the 4th seed and take the Rockets to the final moments in game 7.

I don't think he's a choker at all...more like he squeezes the most he possibly can out of each team he is on.

[cdubbz]

[streamable]o[/streamable]

They did it to everyone, but Chris Paul had Championship contending teams TWICE During the Warriors runs and could have very much won a Championship if it wasn't for the Warriors.

This will be CP3 3rd time being on a Finals contender so we will see how this season plays out.

The Clippers literally weren't a finals contender or contending for championships. The Warriors never stopped them from anything, the Clippers weren't good enough to even face them.

Indeed. I loved the show lob city put on but that team was weak at SG and SF. Too flawed to make it to the finals.

2015 was open IMO and Clippers were good enough to make it. That’s how I felt at the time. I felt in 2015 Warriors had to be the Clippers to move on

[Black Jack]

[streamable]o[/streamable]

The Clippers literally weren't a finals contender or contending for championships. The Warriors never stopped them from anything, the Clippers weren't good enough to even face them.

Indeed. I loved the show lob city put on but that team was weak at SG and SF. Too flawed to make it to the finals.

2015 was open IMO and Clippers were good enough to make it. That’s how I felt at the time. I felt in 2015 Warriors had to be the Clippers to move on

The Lob City Clippers were overrated to me. But the Harden/Paul Rockets were probably the toughest team the Curry/Durant Warriors faced.