Are The Clippers For Real?

Chris Paul hasn’t even begun to be an x-factor in the series the Clippers find themselves in against the rowdy Houston Rockets — an opponent that boasts not just James Harden, but Dwight Howard and a tough supporting cast.

What we’ve started to see from Los Angeles is exactly what needed to happen if the Clippers were going to have a shot to move forward past Houston — teamwork.

It’s amazing how something so simple can go such a long way, particularly at the professional level.

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The Memphis Grizzlies are going to even greater lengths to prove their point that working together instead of independently wins basketball games as they now lead their second round match up against the Golden State Warriors and their league MVP in Steph Curry.

But the Clippers don’t need flashy defense or league-wide recognition to get the job done, they’re just going to keep doing their thing because they know that victory will come shortly and their hard work will not be all for nothing.

At least not this round.

Heading back to Houston with a 3-1 series lead in their pocket, Los Angeles seems to be shifting towards a whole lot of red, white, and blue instead of the usual purple and gold or black and white. While this whole being good in the playoffs thing is new to the Clippers, it’s nowhere close to unfamiliar territory for head coach Doc Rivers.

I mean, his work in Boston is still remembered, right?

Rivers took a Boston team that had so much potential and finally put the what-ifs to rest and brought the team several championship chances along with a ring in 2008.

And he did it, of course, against the other team from Los Angeles — the Lakers.

To the surprise of some, the Clippers aren’t using Doc’s past as a way to bash the Lakers. Instead, they’re welcoming his winning approach with open arms much like the Lakers would love to welcome former-Celtic and Doc Rivers’ prodigy Rajon Rondo.

Rondo’s tenure with the Dallas Mavericks turned out to be anything but satisfying — but it was intriguing and not without the drama and trash talk of super-star status.

But that’s just the way Rondo rolls.

Back to Houston.

Lob City will be ready to move on to the Western Conference Finals in Game 5 and you can rest assured of this fact because there’s nothing that the Clips would hate more than to give even one more breath of playoff life to a Rockets team that some thought might be over-rated — but not this bad.

Coming into the playoffs, the Rockets were no doubt one of the favorites to at least make the Conference Finals against a team like the Warriors, but as it stands right now neither team might make it that far.

Bottom Line: Houston, you’ve got more than one problem

And that’s both shocking and exciting at the same time — just another reason to love postseason basketball.

Steph Curry & Co. square off against the Grizzlies in Game 4 of their series tomorrow night at 6:30 pm PT.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ve got some playoffs to finish.

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