Media’s Hypocritical Perspective of the LA Clippers in Wins and Losses

It is no secret that the LA Clippers are a team that does not get the proper media coverage they deserve. Let’s be honest, if they are not the Los Angeles Lakers or the Brooklyn Nets, they are not a team worth discussing in the national spotlight.

There does seem to be a trend of coverage of the LA Clippers in-between games of how they win big games versus how they lose games in general.

When the Clippers were on six games win streak that was highlighted by the 129-105, there was not a single tweet or acknowledgment from Bleacher Report or some other major news outlet.

One night later on a back-to-back with several injured stars, the Clippers lost to the Orlando Magic with a 103-96 score. This loss from the Clippers created several responses from media outlets, expert analysts of the NBA, and casual NBA fans challenging the standard productivity of the team.

While the Clippers did collapse from fatigue off several games in a short timeframe and missed several opportunities in the clutch once again, this was not a loss that reflects the problems of the team. That didn’t stop analysts from attacking Kawhi Leonard for his ability to lead a team and playing in the clutch.

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On the Undisputed on FoxSports, Shannon Sharpe criticized Leonard and the Clippers by saying “I told you Kawhi is not clutch. This is the same Magic team that lost to the Lakers without Bron (LeBron James) & AD (Anthony Davis). The Magic are the Succaneers of the NBA.”

How quickly Sharpe goes from “these losses happen” when the Lakers lost to Detroit Pistons 107-92 or the Washington Wizards 127-124 loss in overtime with James playing to something like Clippers just Clipping when it happens to them. It also so hard for an analyst like Sharpe, with a short memory, to forget about Leonard’s clutch buzzer-beating in the 2019 NBA Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

Another FoxSports “expert” that wanted to slam Leonard was formerly fired ESPN analyst Colin Cowherd. On his show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, he called Leonard a disappointment for the Clippers by saying, “When you put him in the same building & city with LeBron, he shrinks. He doesn’t really lead or elevate teammates.”

Cowherd doesn’t any availability to talk to anyone in the Clippers’ locker room, so it is highly questionable to challenge the leadership qualities of Leonard. He also can’t talk about the Clippers or Leonard without mentioning LeBron or the Lakers in the same city. This is nothing that analysts like Sharpe and Cowherd have said about Paul George with his struggles with postseason play and his mental health fight.

The most surprising trash talk on Twitter from a legitimate news source is a page called Statmuse, whose sole purpose to create a topic and analyze the stats of games and events. On March 30th, after the loss to the Magic, they released two different tweets openly slamming the Clippers. The first depicting “The Clippers lost to the Magic. The Orlando Magic. Yes, to the team that just traded their 3 best players.”

Another tweet depicted, “UCLA goes to the Final Four. The Clippers loses at home to the Magic. Lots of celebration in LA.”

This is a page dedicated to facts and statistical information of mostly NBA teams, that showed their true colors of pettiness and making noise just to get likes. Never mind the fact that even though the Magic traded three great players, the Clippers were without four of their starters including Paul George and Marcus Morris Sr.

This kind of pettiness shows they have shed their goal of bias-free journalism just to appeal to the casual NBA fan who will forget about the loss to the Magic and Nuggets 24 hours later.

The Clippers are still serious threats in the Western Conference as they are the third seed and a 32-18 overall record. They are only .5 games ahead of the Lakers, but they will face them on Easter Sunday at 12:30 pacific on ABC. The Lakers will be without James, Davis, and possibly their new starting center in Andre Drummond. The Clippers are likely are going to missing Serge Ibaka, but they may see Patrick Beverley. This Sunday will be the first time the league sees Rajon Rondo in a Clippers jersey against his former team in the Lakers.

If the LA Clippers win this game, there should not be too much media perspective on how the Clippers are the better Los Angeles team despite a 2-0 record versus them this season. This is because James and Davis will be out. On the other hand, expect a huge flood of support and praise for the Lakers, if the Clippers were to be upset on Sunday. The main goal is not to gain attention from the media but the lack of credit is alarming but not surprising.