LA Clippers Lose Heartily To Cleveland Cavaliers At Staples Center

After getting romped by the Cavs on Sunday, the LA Clippers are starting to see how much they need Blake Griffin.

Whether you like it or not, Blake Griffin is the only x-factor that will allow the Los Angeles Clippers anywhere near the contender conversation.

DeAndre Jordan failed to be the big man that Los Angeles could count on against a top-tier team like Cleveland — but that was only where the problems for the Clippers began.

The usual suspects in Chris Paul and J.J. Redick combined for only 36 points and five made three-pointers on the night.

Beyond the arc proved to be the most prevalent issue facing Los Angeles, as they only made ten from beyond the arc as a team compared to 18 shots going in from that distance for the Cavaliers.

For Cleveland, J.R. Smith and Channing Frye had big nights, splitting ten three-pointers between just the two of them. Smith and Frye finished with 17 and 15 points, respectively.

LeBron James was coming off of his final clash with NBA legend Kobe Bryant, as he dropped 27 points in a Los Angeles encore.

The Clippers were also out-performed in bench play, being out-scored 39-34 on their home floor.

With all the talk surrounding the idea of Los Angeles being a major threat in the Western Conference, this game against Cleveland put the nail in the coffin of the idea that Blake Griffin is what will make this team the dark horse it needs to be.

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For whatever reason, the Clippers are the one team in the NBA that has the Spurs’ number, matches up decently with the Warriors when it comes to game tempo, and plays heart-to-heart any day of the week with Oklahoma City.

Playing spoiler may be the style of play this team has to become tailored to, but not even the best team in the league could play that role without winning games at home.

Because in the playoffs, they won’t be able to wish for the next time or get  a second chance to do any game over again — and they can’t afford to let their momentum, as much as they’ve got left in the tank, get to their heads.

In essence, it’s really what prevented the Spurs from knocking the Clippers out last season; Chris Paul and Doc Rivers know that better than anyone.

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With that in mind, they need to take this loss with humility and understand that they are not the best team in the league — and that’s just the way it is.