For years, no one has questioned what the best team in Los Angeles is. The Los Angeles Lakers have been on top of the Western Conference for decades and have solidified themselves as one of the best franchises ever.
This year, they’ve struggled tremendously and have been plagued with injuries to star players like Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol. Metta World Peace has also been bitten by the injury bug.
Through the ups and downs the Lakers have found themselves hovering around the 8th spot in the West with five games remaining — they’re half a game behind the Utah Jazz. Despite a solid second half of the season, the Lakers might find themselves out of the playoffs for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
In fact, in the team’s 65-year history, they’ve only missed the playoffs five times.
However, if the Lakers make the playoffs, anything can happen. They’ll either play the Spurs or Thunder in the first round and could pose a problem for the Spurs, who are half a game ahead of the Thunder for the No. 1 seed.
The Spurs have had their troubles in the playoffs in recent years, and with Kobe at the helm, the Lakers could make a run. If the Thunder grab the No. 1 seed, though, the Lakers will run into some problems.
LA’s other team, the Clippers, has had a lot of rebuilding years and have made the playoffs only nine times in their 43 year history.
Last year, they lost in the Western Conference semi-finals after a 40-26 record in the shortened season.
This year, they hit the 50 win mark for the first time in franchise history and swept the season series against the Lakers for the first time ever.
Acquiring Chris Paul has pushed the Clippers over the edge, and in all likelihood they will earn the No. 4 seed in the West, However, they could move up to the No. 3 seed or slide to the No. 5 seed.
They’ll likely see the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, since they are 2-1 against them this season with one game remaining. When these two teams get together, they’re usually pretty good games to watch.
The Clippers have had their best season in franchise history, but they’ll have their work cut out for them if and if and when they have to face the Thunder, Spurs or Nuggets in the playoffs.
The futures of both franchises look pretty good. If the Lakers keep Howard and find a few missing pieces, Kobe can help lead them back to glory next year. Kobe already said he wants to keep playing if he can stay healthy.
Let’s not forget that it took the Heat a year to mesh well before they were great. Howard has finally become used to playing in LA and should have a great year next year if he stays. If they do beat out the Jazz for the last playoff spot this year, they could make some noise.
The Clippers are a young, experienced team. You don’t get to say that often, but with Chris Paul leading the team with two young, big men in Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan, this team will be scary for years to come.
They’ll need that one player to help them compete with the Thunder though or they might find themselves second– or third-best every year. The Clippers have experience with Caron Butler, Chauncey Billups and Jamal Crawford, so they’ll need to find one more young solid starter at shooting guard or small forward.
There looks to be many years of competitiveness between these two teams. Who knows what will happen in the playoffs this year, but one thing is for sure: The best team in LA right now is not the Lakers, it’s the Clippers.