The LA rivalry isn’t on their minds
LeBron James called attention to the LA Clippers – Los Angeles Lakers rivalry Friday when he joked that STAPLES Center was the winner of this year’s free agency period. Paul George echoed that statement as well. But if the media wasn’t asking these guys about their thoughts on what figures to be the premier rivalry in 2020, they probably wouldn’t even be thinking about it.
After all, when you set aside the Lakers, there are still 28 other professional teams out there trying to win basketball games. If you focus too much on one of them, some of that focus will be lost against other teams. So in a lot of ways, it’s a great thing that the Clippers aren’t all that invested in the LA rivalry.
Montrezl Harrell summed it up best Sunday, saying, “I don’t think we pay too much attention to that. It’s more so something for the city to do and for you guys to do, as far as the media.”
The Clippers made it clear that they don’t intend to put too much stock into those games, but it will be hard to ignore what they mean.
This is, essentially, the first time that both Los Angeles teams are good at the same time. And by good, I mean both should be contending for a title in 2020. That’s never come close to happening before, and it’s why Los Angeles is going to be one of the best places to watch basketball during the upcoming season.
Ultimately though, those four regular season games between the two probably won’t mean much. Sure, playoff seeding will probably be impacted by them, at least a little bit. It might end up meaning something for division standings too. But the other 78 games on the schedule will do that too, and to a much larger degree.
It is unfortunate that George won’t be able to play come Opening Night when the Clippers host the Lakers, and it’s even more unfortunate that so much stock will be put into that one game. But LA has shown that they ignore the noise, so while fans might be focused on the results, the Clippers will be preparing for their next opponent, win or lose.
Instead of focusing so much on the honorary title of “Best Team in Los Angeles”, the Clippers will have other things in mind.