The battle of the two LA teams is always an intriguing storyline to follow each season.
While the LA Clippers might have moved out of a shared arena with the LA Lakers, the two clubs still share a city, and will continue to be directly compared because of such.
Now, from a historical standpoint, the two can’t really be compared on the same level. The Lakers have 17 championships in their history. The Clippers haven’t made an NBA Finals in their history.
As it pertains to the current day comparion and on a season-by-season basis, though, it’s much easier to compare how the two clubs are faring against one another. This season, the answer as to which team is in a better spot was answered by Paul Pierce, who delivered revealing grades for each side.
The Clippers lost Paul George last offseason without getting anything in return. There were many questions as to how the team might look this season. They’ve also only had Kawhi Leonard on the hardwood for a limited amount of time as he’s dealing with injury issues.
All things considered, the Clippers are in a relatively good spot. They are 25-19 on the season while sitting at No. 6 in the Western Conference.
According to Pierce’s team grades on “The Ticket & Truth,” the Clippers have been given an “A” grade for their season thus far.
“I got the Clippers at an A. I didn’t expect them to be here. When you lost Paul George, I thought they gonna be coasting,” Pierce said. “They not coasting. They ahead of teams I thought would be up there, Dallas, Minnesota. Now you got Kawhi back, they dangerous ‘bro.”
While the Clippers have exceeded expectations, the Lakers are 24-18 and are just one spot ahead of the Clippers in the Western Conference as the No. 5 seed.
Having LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the hardwood, the Lakers have high expectations. Those haven’t wavered despite some subpar results in recent seasons. So, for the Lakers to only be slightly ahead of the Clippers is seen as a negative.
Evidently, this is reflected in Pierce’s grade for the team, as he dished a “C’ for the Lakers’ season thus far, claiming they can’t make a move to make them not average.
“They like a C. They like average. When they play the young teams they can’t control dribble penetration, thats a problem. They can’t guard the ball when they play the young teams that’s a problem,” Pierce said. “They got to have a spectacular night every night out of LeBron at 40. At the end of the night they play well, but they just can’t defend.
“I don’t know if there’s a move they can make, they just a middle-of-the-pack team.”
This difference between the two teams is simply because of their expectations heading into the season. They’ve had similar results, but they’re graded differently because of where people thought they might have been.
It’s unfair to the Lakers, but that’s the reality of the situation in being such a historic franchise.
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