The Los Angeles Lakers have more impressive wins than the Clippers

The narrative around the Los Angeles Lakers is that the schedule has been filled with easy wins but the team has more impressive wins than the Los Angeles Clippers.

The debate of which basketball team in Los Angeles is superior is a hot one right now and as the site expert at LA Sports Hub, I have no bias towards the Los Angeles Lakers nor Los Angeles Clippers, so I try and present facts right down the middle.

The narrative around the Lakers is that they have played a schedule full of easy games, and when looking at it on the surface, the team has beaten up on a lot of bad teams. That certainly is something that has happened early on.

Meanwhile, the Clippers, who have a worse record (albeit not bad), have been touted with the tougher road thus far. And while they have played the Milwaukee Bucks twice, I am still not all that sure that the narrative is true.

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And even if it is true, if the Clippers truly are the better team then shouldn’t they be winning these tough games? Because at the end of the day, when you break down the wins of each team, the Lakers do have the edge.

Granted, the Clippers did not have Paul George for 11 games and have been partaking in load management with Kawhi Leonard. Even when both guys play, the workload is far less than the Lakers, which could have an impact in the playoffs.

That is worth mentioning and just because the Lakers have more impressive wins does not make them the better team. But just because the Clippers have a good record while partaking in this strategy does not make them a better team either. Let’s break down the wins.

The Clippers have seven wins against teams that are currently in playoff position, the most impressive coming against the Boston Celtics (17-5) and Houston Rockets (15-8). However, it is important to note that both of those wins were at home and the Clippers lost to the Rockets in Houston.

Overall, the Clippers are 7-5 against playoff teams this season. Two of those losses were to the Bucks, one to the Rockets, one to the Jazz and one to the Phoenix Suns.

The Lakers have played 11 games against playoff teams, just one fewer than the Clippers keep in mind, and are 8-3 in those games with one of the losses coming against the Clippers.

The Lakers’ most impressive wins include a road win against the Dallas Mavericks, a back-to-back sweep against the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz and a routing of the Miami Heat.

Yes, the Clippers have had to play more “elite” teams as they have four combined games against the Bucks, Celtics and Rockets. However, they are 2-3 in those games. If they were at least 3-2 then you could say something, but you cannot pick apart the Lakers’ schedule when you have a losing record against the best teams you have faced.

All three of the Los Angeles Lakers’ losses have come against playoff teams in the Clippers, Mavericks and Toronto Raptors; two of which were at home, which is important to note.

However, what really swings it for me is the way the Lakers are winning these games. They beat the Nuggets and Jazz by a combined 36 points with both teams only scoring 96 points. They held the Jazz to 86 earlier in the year, they held the Heat to 80. And most importantly: they are blowing out bad teams, for the most part.

So while the Clippers have the edge in strength of schedule, them losing those games against the better teams in the league does not do anything for their case.

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Instead, if we look at just the wins, the Los Angeles Lakers have been more impressive this year.

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