What’s wrong Los Angeles? Both the Lakers and the Clippers face elimination.
Written by Adrian Gregory Glover // May 12, 2012 // NBA, News // No comments
LOS ANGELES– In the Battle for Los Angeles, both the Clippers and the Lakers are falling to their knees at the same time. Each team should be done by now having had their prey one game away from elimination.
Now, neither team could make it out of the first round. Both would be examples of that despite how bad things seem to be, you can always overcome obstacles.
Fans of both teams would point to key ailments and try and compare them to what happened in Chicago.
The key differences would be that all of the West Coast players had the opportunity to make magic, Derrick Rose did not.
Friday night the Clippers lost a close 90-88 Game 6 to the Memphis Grizzlies. They have made their money in this series by bailing it out in the contest’s waning moments.
The circumstances that put them on top early may prove to be their exit strategy. Both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul are fighting through knee and groin issues respectively.
In Game 6 they had a chance to come through and set the tone for the rest of their run.
The Clippers can’t do it without them, so the mayors of Lob City have some choices to make. Let’s say Randy Foye catches fire and leads to way through Game 7, then what?
Groin and knee injuries don’t fade away within a day or two.
In the regular season, I hate the man-up theory when guys are hurt. Now, it’s the playoffs and as the leaders of a team you may have to suffer some get that banner raised in the Staples Center.
There were moments in the first period where Griffin would not contest shots with any real effort. It spoke a lot about heart. You play to win championships. You play to personally fulfill dreams. You play to reward a city for believing in you when no one else did.
For the Clippers or the Lakers for that matter, it’s not enough just to get there. The Lakers legacy is cemented in stone. If they hot dog it for a couple of years, no one can ever question where that franchise sits amongst the greatest.
The Clippers have a decision to make. Are they going to be the Western Conference’s version of the Atlanta Hawks or are they going to get up, dust themselves off and go for theirs?
