The Dream Of A Title Coming Back To LA Isn’t As Far Away As It Seems
By Keith Rivas
We’ve seen titles come in and out of the city of angels before. It’s time we get that kind of feeling to come back to the best sports city on earth.
I don’t know that Los Angeles sports fan honestly care which team it is at this point — between the Lakers or the Clippers — they just wanted to see one of their local teams make it back to basketball’s biggest stage.
The Clippers showed some serious strength in the 2015 NBA Playoffs, but were exposed by the Houston Rockets as the kind of team that needs more experience before breaking past the elite and into the unforgotten.
As for the Lakers…well, you know how last season went.
The good news, though, is there’s plenty of hope.
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Not hype. We don’t want that if it’s not warranted.
The Clippers will have all the hate and anger in the world and will be looking to exact direct revenge on the Western Conference.
When the regular season, both Houston and Los Angeles were tied in the win column with a 56-26 record, respectively.
Just one game of a difference would’ve given the Clippers home court advantage, should their series still have gone to a Game 7.
Imagine what that would’ve done for them.
On the Lakers side of things, it’s even more exciting.
Kobe Bryant — arguably the best player in NBA history, in the conversation with Michael Jordan and others — will be coming back for his last season in the city that’s shown him love.
In return, Bryant has stuck with us through the good, bad, and especially the ugly.
And now we can give him one last push at title number six.
The Lakers have the second overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft and will probably have to decide between Jahlil Okafor (Duke), Karl-Anthony Towns (Kentucky), and D’Angelo Russell (Ohio State).
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This is awesome. Okay, no, let’s go with something better than that.
Epic.
Alongside up-and-comer Jordan Clarkson, Kobe Bryant is going to be in one of his most lethal forms with the No. 2 and Julius Randle tagging along.
So yes, I’m saying there’s a chance.
But from a team that’s still alive and fighting for respect and recognition, it’s not too bad to take some notes.
That team that I’m talking about, of course, is none other than the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors have climbed to the peak of a mountaintop pretty quickly in a league, conference, and culture that is often unforgiving.
Despite the trash talk and doubts of Stephen Curry becoming an all-time player, negative feedback on having a rookie coach in Steve Kerr, and accusations of plenty of bandwagon fans that hopped on the train as soon as things starting good.
But that’s not all true. The same can be said about LA.
Byron Scott will be entering only his second year as head coach of the Lakers and this time will have twice, maybe even three times as much actual talent available to him to use for the purposes of reviving a fan base.
And there’s no reason to believe he can’t do that.
The Lakers and Clippers can climb to the top if they follow the blueprint providing by Golden State, and that is by playing fearless basketball.
We saw Chris Paul crumble in the most important moments against the Rockets and we saw the Lakers cave in within themselves as soon as Kobe went out with injury.
Bottom Line: It’s time for revival
As long as everyone stays healthy, all they’ve got to do is be themselves.
Bryant and Paul can provide experience for their respective teams, Randle and Griffin will cover down low, and Matt Barnes, Jordan Clarkson, and the newest addition to the Lakers come draft night will provide the flame needed to make a surge back to the top.
We can do it.
We know we can.