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Report: Clippers to face Lakers on Christmas Day

By Trisity Miller

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Gone are the days of the Clippers and Warriors bleeding their hate over into our holiday celebrating of Christmas. With the Warriors being defending champions, word is the NBA has plans for a 2015 NBA Finals rematch on Christmas

This leaves the Clippers without a foe, and though many believed the NBA would capitalize off the summer festivity that was DeAndre Jordan flip-flopping between verbal agreements and cast a Clippers-Mavs matchup on X-Mas, Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times says we’ll get the in-arena rivalry of Clippers-Lakers instead.

While Clippers vs. Lakers will surely draw viewers as it features one of the most entertaining teams in the league in the Clippers versus a Lakers team that remains home to one Kobe Bryant, the NBA could have went numerous different ways to provide fans with an interesting, late night matchup.

How about a Western Conference semi-finals rematch between the Clippers and Rockets? Given how serious Chris Paul can be about basketball, I’m almost positive he’s dying to get his hands on that team after failing to secure a 3-1 lead; Josh Smith also gets a go at his former team and best friend in Dwight Howard.

Clippers-Wizards would also be a fun one considering it’d be Paul Pierce going up against his former team, which happens to be one of the best young teams in the league with stars in John Wall and Bradley Beal carrying the load.

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    • Or the league could’ve vied for a dual superstar matchup with Clippers versus Oklahoma City — Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook always makes for a fun dual and Kevin Durant/Blake Griffin are two of the best at their respective position.

    Instead, it’s in with the old. My theory? This was the only matchup that’d “justify” placing a Lakers team that projects to be — once again — bad on national television during the holiday. For years, the NBA and its fans have peddled Clippers vs. Lakers as a rivalry, which, makes sense only for proximity reasons, as is Knicks vs. Nets. But on a largescale, the Lakers have massively outclassed the Clippers, with the proof being total 16 championships, with five earned dating back to 2000. On a smaller scale, the Clippers have completely outclassed the Lakers in the last three seasons, with LAC winning 169 total games in the time period to LAL’s 93 — though Lakers fans will argue the Clippers’ 169 games won doesn’t matter as they’ve failed to deliver a championship in the given time period.

    For what it’s worth, this Lakers team is much improved compared to last years version, a team the Clippers swept 4-0. They’ve added no.2 overall pick D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, the no.7 pick from the 2014 draft, is back after fracturing his leg in last season’s opening game, they’ve added the Pacers cast-off center Roy Hibbert, Jordan Clarkson, named to All-Rookie lst team last year, is in Year 2, and the most notable of all things, Kobe Bryant is back. Where they’ll lack in wins, they’ll make up for in general intrigue: how Russell works out? Is Clarkson as good as his rookie season numbers? Contract season part two for Hibbert? Is Byron Scott, head coach, not gonna be terrible again? And the biggest question of them all: can Bryant, the wily oldster headed on his way out the league, blend in with an impressive cast of youngster?

    In regards to the actual matchup, there’s only two ways this game goes: the Clippers either continue their dominance over the Lakers in a highlight-filled blowout or the Lakers upset the Clippers in a close game; no in-between.

    For the sake of fandom and NBA appreciation, let’s hope for something closer to the latter but with the Clippers bringing home the victory for temporary bragging rights — and by temporary I mean until Lakers fan begin bragging about championships.

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