The start of the 2015-16 NBA regular season is almost upon us. At long last, we get to see how all the teams that reloaded their rosters over the summer play out. How much better will the San Antonio Spurs be with LaMarcus Aldridge and David West? Can the Miami Heat return to the Eastern conference finals? And, from a Los Angeles Clippers standpoint, can they top 56 wins and finally make it past the second round?
If they can use the talent and depth in their second unit effectively, the Clippers have one of the best overall rosters in the entire league. After three straight losses in the preseason, though, mainly due to the poor performance of the bench, there’s still plenty of work to do over the next few weeks.
However, regardless of the work they have to do, the Clippers are waiting to show the Western conference what they’ve got. Of course, that doesn’t rule out the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
After Doc Rivers made the comment “You need luck to win in the West. Look at Golden State. They didn’t have to play us or the Spurs”, to Zach Lowe of Grantland, the Warriors reacted to defend themselves as worthy champions.
Klay Thompson retaliated with the following statement:
"“That sounds pretty bitter to me,” said Thompson following a Warriors practice. “Didn’t they lose to the Rockets? So that just makes me laugh. That’s funny. Weren’t they up 3-1, too? Tell them I said that, too.”“I wanted to play the Clippers last year, but they couldn’t handle their business.”"
Is there a rivalry brewing? Clearly.
Yet, that wasn’t enough. The Clippers and Warriors took their feud to Twitter ahead of their preseason game on October 20 at Staples Center:
"Playing this team tomorrow night. See you at STAPLES Center!"
The Warriors didn’t hesitate to respond with their own Vine:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/V4l43eH5hi @LAClippers
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 19, 2015
The Twitter “wars” between teams just keep getting better and better. Whoever’s responsible for finding these Vines and typing out a casual shrug image above is doing their job well.
At least while we only have preseason basketball to watch.
Dating back past the trivial comments by Doc, Thompson and even Stephen Curry over the last few weeks, the Clippers-Warriors competitiveness against each other goes back to the 2013-14 playoffs. After the Donald Sterling situation, the Clippers were going through a tough time as an organization. During that time, though, they had to face the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.
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The series went to seven games and the Clippers prevailed, but as they always have, Doc and Co. fell short in the second round by losing 4-2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
So, can they finally survive the second round this year? With the improved Spurs, a young Warriors squad who can continue to develop, and a Thunder team who finally have a healthy Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, it will be as difficult as ever. Not to mention, there are too many question marks surrounding L.A.’s new bench right now, and a slow start won’t do them any favors if they intend on finishing in the top half of the conference.
One thing is for sure, though. Regardless of whether or not the Clippers make it further than ever before in the playoffs, their regular season matchups against the Warriors are going to be nothing short of brilliant entertainment.