West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Sports & Entertainment => Topic started by: Elano The One And Only on July 14, 2013, 03:46:52 AM
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In Los Angeles, there are hard-and-fast rules. The star of the movie walks the red carpet last. Valets park the Teslas in front, Toyotas in the back. The Lakers eat filet and the Clippers gristle.
That's what makes these strange days in L.A. That third rule is suddenly upside-down.
Wednesday, for instance, the Clippers called a news conference and people came.
Then Clippers freshly re-signed forward Matt Barnes said something previously unheard in the history of the English language: "I wanted to win, so I picked the Clippers."
Excuse me?
And a few days ago, the Clippers' all-universe point guard, Chris Paul, who just re-upped himself, walked into one of the hottest shoe stores in L.A., Fight Club, only to find zero Clippers caps, as usual.
"But this time was different!" Paul glows. "The guy told me they were sold out of them! Sold out! So that's progress, right?"
Meanwhile, 70 feet down the hall at Staples, the Lakers are a yard sale. Kobe Bryant is trying to rehab an Achilles injury that could take another six months. The team failed to sign the big superstar center it always used to sign -- Dwight Howard, who defected to Houston, of all places. And the Lakers answered the Clippers' boffo six-player signing news conference with their own, ahem, press release announcing the signing of backup center Robert Sacre.
Wow. Light me a sparkler.
We're through the looking glass here, people: I have the Clippers winning 20 more games than the Lakers this coming season, improving on the 11 more they won last season. Las Vegas has the Clippers at 15-1 to win the title, versus 40-1 for the Lakers. The Clippers have the better coach (newly signed Doc Rivers), the better shooters (just signed J.J. Redick plus Jared Dudley), Lob City versus Bald City (Blake Griffin versus Chris Kaman) and a healthier, younger superstar (Paul versus Bryant).
Yes, the Lakers are still the shoe and the Clippers the gum, but things are about to get sticky for the status quo in Hollywoodland.
"When I was a Clipper the first time [nine years ago]," Barnes says, "we were just the JV team. Our home games against the Lakers were really just Lakers home games. We were nowhere. But now, anywhere we go in the country, I see Clippers stuff. I mean, Oklahoma City, Miami, everywhere."
The Clippers swept the Lakers for the first time in their history last season (4-0). They sold out every game (94 straight sellouts now). They won their first Pacific Division banner (which they won't dare put up). All of which got coach Vinny Del Negro fired.
They went out to Memphis in six games in the first round, which tormented Paul. "All I kept focusing on was 4-2, 4-2," he says. "Drove me crazy."
He won't admit it, but sources say he wanted a new coach of his own choosing, even to the point of naming the interviewees. He wound up with Rivers, the most popular one in the league. Then the team got him shooters he needed, the chippiness he wanted in Barnes, and some point guard help in UCLA product Darren Collison.
"I'm so excited, I almost feel like a rookie again," he says.
OK, so the Clippers are still going to be the dinghy to the Lakers' yacht. Their locker room is still going to be smaller than the Lakers'. The cost of a courtside seat for the Clippers is still going to be $1,650 four digits less than for the Lakers. The Lakers are still going to thump the Clippers in retired jerseys (9-0), championship banners (16-0) and statues in front of Staples Center (3-0). But until the Lakers reload in 2014-15, it will be the Clippers riding shotgun in L.A. and the Lakers in the trunk.
Progress: "When I was growing up in Pasadena, I was a Lakers fan," says Clippers center Ryan Hollins. "The Clippers were so bad that when they were playing anybody but you, you rooted for them. You wanted them to win a few games. But now, it's all different. Now it's a passionate rivalry. I know families that this rivalry has torn up. Lakers fans hate us now. I guess that's a compliment, right?"
Progress: When Paul threw out the first pitch at a Dodgers game last year, he was booed by Dodgers fans. How dare you not pick the Lakers? When he threw out the first pitch this year, he was cheered. Hey, you're really good!
Progress: At the Westfield Mall, less than a mile from the Clippers' practice facility, Clippers stuff is finally starting to bloom among the fields of purple and gold. At Foot Locker on Wednesday, I counted Lakers caps over Clippers caps 19-4. That's an improvement. Used to be 25-1. At Lids, they had 110 more Lakers caps. Used to be 200. Even at the Team Store at Staples Center on a neutral day, the Clippers are up to a 4-1 deficit.
Now the Clippers have to help themselves.
Why do the Clippers allow every home game to be played under the weight of all those Lakers championship banners and retired jerseys? When you see a concert at Staples Center, those banners are covered up with a black cloth. Why don't the Clippers cover them up? What Clippers fans want to be reminded of all that ... Lakerness ... every time they look up? I get that AEG, which owns Staples, owns 25 percent of the Lakers and 0 percent of the Clippers, but still... Do the McCoys have Hatfield pictures up at home?
This is a new time in Los Angeles. The wizard of Beverly Hills, owner Jerry Buss, is dead and, so far, the new Busses are late in arriving. The Clippers actually outdrew the Lakers at home last year -- by 229 people per game. And although the old stars such as Jack Nicholson and Dyan Cannon keep hobbling up to their Lakers seats, plenty of newly minted stars, such as Rihanna, Jessica Alba and Kate Upton, have been seen cheering on the Clippers.
You understand this is like trying to empty the ocean with an eyedropper. It's still not easy being blue. Barnes went into the Team Store at Staples this Christmas to get some stuff for his family. Neither team was playing that day. Yet Barnes found only wall-to-wall Lakers gear. The clerk explained that all the Clippers stuff was on the other side of the reversible wall.
"We'd have to turn the wall around," the clerk explained.
"So turn it around!" Barnes barked.
Not a bad motto.
By Rick Reilly | ESPN.com
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These articles are lame as fuck. I root for the Lakers, but I don't have anything against the Clippers, but until shit actually happens, these articles about the Clips improving but citing shit like how instead of the Lakers-to-Clippers hat ratio being 25-1, it was 19-4 this time around, is like some Meet the Fockers type shit and being proud of being in seventh place or some shit. Clips fans have a lot to be happy about, and they're definitely building a much stronger franchise, but people are wanting to pop bottles over nothing major. Seriously... throughout the season, Facebook always had the pro-Clips and/or anti-Lakers fans saying "Yeah Clippers run LA" or whatever, but even with that 11-game advantage in victories during the season (and the 4-0 sweep against the Lakers along with the division banner, they still got knocked out of the first round of the playoffs, then it got all quiet on the western front.
Anyway, Clips will definitely be expanding their fanbase and winning more people over, but judge the results... and celebrate GOOD results.
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THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CLIPPER FAN
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Niggas are straight up the Mets of LA. They'll never be the Lakers. Even if they repeated the next two years.
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Niggas are straight up the Mets of LA. They'll never be the Lakers. Even if they repeated the next two years.
That's a good comparison, I'd say the Mets are still more significant though.
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THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CLIPPER FAN
Touche.
I've only been to one Clips game ever (as opposed to the numerous Laker games I had been to, though it's been a while), and I only went because a friend of mine worked at a company where they had box seats, and they give away the tickets during Clips games haha. But this was around 2005, so the team wasn't all that... plus all I really remember is drinking all of the free beer in the fridge. I don't even think I watched the game haha.
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These articles are lame as fuck.
u just summarized elaine-o perez's dubcc life in one sentence
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(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTxK-ta15pTW_SXejtmab2FdV8VLH0rZQVhKXSwS3q-A_LJPDPjJg)
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THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CLIPPER FAN
Ben Maller would punch you in the face
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AND THEN WOULD GET FUCKED UP LOL
(https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/3412431155/c487679325709c3d184242ebb9522a54.jpeg)
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ben maller is a badass son
dude was trained by chuck norris 8)
also Clipper Darrell is a big muffager too, right?
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clippers have a bette record than the lakers, clippers still get boo'd at clipper home games
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clippers have a bette record than the lakers, clippers still get boo'd at clipper home games
Clippers will own LA for the rest of CP3's career
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clippers have a bette record than the lakers, clippers still get boo'd at clipper home games
Clippers will own LA for the rest of CP3's career
It won't matter unless they put up a championship banner at least once during that time, even if the Lakers never make it to the playoffs again in the meantime.
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LOL WORST SEASON IN LAKER HISTORY=1ST ROUND EXIT
BEST SEASON IN CLIPPER HISTORY=1ST ROUND EXIT
GO FIGURE
SIDE NOTE: HACK'S OBSESSION WITH LOS ANGELES IS STARTING TO RIVAL ELANO'S
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the Lakers missed the playoffs in 04-05, how is that a 1st round exit?
NIK is insecure about the Clippers :D
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IM TALKIN BOUT 2013, BROKEN HEAD.
TRY TO PUT THAT BRAIN TO USE, CUDDIE BUDDY.
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IM TALKIN BOUT 2013, BROKEN HEAD.
TRY TO PUT THAT BRAIN TO USE, CUDDIE BUDDY.
how was last year the worst year in Lakers history? oh that's right, it wasn't.
use your brain, eyebrow waxer ;)
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SMFH
GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES, WE WERE EXPECTED TO CONTEND GOIN IN, THEN HAD TO STRUGGLE TO BARELY SCRATCH PLAYOFFS - IN THE PROCESS, HIRED MIKE D'ANTONI OVER PHIL JACKSON, HAD THE WORST INJURY RIDDLED ROSTER IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE, AND LOST KOBE TO ACHILLES TEAR ENTERING POST-SEASONE...YEA, WORST SEASON IN LAKER HISTORY. FIX THAT HEAD CUZZ.
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I think the "worst" season would be defined by their record. 2012-2013 may have been the Lakers' most UNFORTUNATE season. That's different.
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74-75 Lakers were 30-52
similar to what next years Lakers will appear like :D
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I think the "worst" season would be defined by their record. 2012-2013 may have been the Lakers' most UNFORTUNATE season. That's different.
DEPENDS WHAT U MEAN BY WORST SEASON...IF WERE TALKIN ABOUT WORST AS IN ACTUALITY, LAST YEAR WAS THE WORST SEASON. BY RECORD, THEN YEA, THERE HAS BEEN WORSE, BUT BY ENGLISH DEFINITION, LAST YEAR WAS THE WORST.
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I think the "worst" season would be defined by their record. 2012-2013 may have been the Lakers' most UNFORTUNATE season. That's different.
thanks to dwight, he pretty much did what he did before he left orlando, just create a whole shit load of drama.
nash said himself that dwight didnt want to be here and if he doesnt "we" dont want him to be here also. nice to see nash say "we" he really loves LA
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I think the "worst" season would be defined by their record. 2012-2013 may have been the Lakers' most UNFORTUNATE season. That's different.
thanks to dwight, he pretty much did what he did before he left orlando, just create a whole shit load of drama.
nash said himself that dwight didnt want to be here and if he doesnt "we" dont want him to be here also. nice to see nash say "we" he really loves LA
the same Dwight who played injured for your team?? dude is typically a 20-14 guy when healthy...for LA he was a 17-12 guy with a bad shoulder. I'm not saying he's on Shaq's level or anything but dude is still the best center in the league bar none (despite his douchey ness)
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I think the "worst" season would be defined by their record. 2012-2013 may have been the Lakers' most UNFORTUNATE season. That's different.
thanks to dwight, he pretty much did what he did before he left orlando, just create a whole shit load of drama.
nash said himself that dwight didnt want to be here and if he doesnt "we" dont want him to be here also. nice to see nash say "we" he really loves LA
the same Dwight who played injured for your team?? dude is typically a 20-14 guy when healthy...for LA he was a 17-12 guy with a bad shoulder. I'm not saying he's on Shaq's level or anything but dude is still the best center in the league bar none (despite his douchey ness)
yeah he is the best center in this league today, but that isnt saying much. talented big men have disappeared.
dwight would be a kwame brown in the era of hakeem, ewing, or the kareem, mchale eras.
he was on a team that had so much talent, yet he didnt want to run the pick and roll, he didnt want to dive for the ball
instead he wanted to exploit his weakness and post up, healthy or not, the amount of times he posted up while he was with our team he would of still been last in post up efficiency (dead last, this past season)
he just doesnt have that much basketball IQ, people were going out of the way to give this guy baby assists, in which he got most of his points from.
i dont know why he was so obsessed about creating his own shot in our team, its not like he did much of that in orlando. im assuming he didnt want those baby assists because he wasnt the "1st option"
the thing is we would of been better off with just sticking with bynum (he probably wouldnt have gone bowling and fucked up his legs if he was still with the lakers)
i never did like the trade, just for the fact that he's has no offensive game, and i knew with all this bickering about having "his own team" he wouldnt be satisfied with just being the defensive anchor.
it would of been so easy for himself and the lakers to thrive if he just bought into the team game, kobe and nash went out their way trying to get this guy touches and give him easy baskets, yet he still complained?
i mean what is kobe going to do? you ask for touches and post up and brick point blank hook shots or get stripped, and if you do get fouled before his ONE turn around move, he misses free throws.
he didnt buy into the team game and chemistry, he wanted it his way, and this disrupted the whole season.
i never was a fan of howard, all raw no talent. but when we got him i said fuck it i mean shit we got the "best center" in the league, lets go get us some rings.
than in the beginning of the season (and throughout the whole season) we though im in the post first, rather pau who is unbelievably talented at making plays in the post,
Pau didnt have to be an aggressive strength guy, he could of just set up plays for howard easily, but nope. i mean what the hell is he doing? is he deciding NOW that he wants to develop and get better? after 10 years in the league?
dude just isnt the sharpest tool in the box.
its pretty laughable if howard is going to be the 1st option on offense, unless he suddenly becomes an average passer and play some good inside outside with harden.
he said he doesnt want to play pick and rolls, so whats harden going to do? waste his talents and be a spot up shooter?
how many times have this guy worked out with the dream? and still havent seen any back 2 the basket improvements,
best center in the league? and he still wasnt the best post up players on last seasons laker team, Kobe being the best post up player than Pau, and its even arguable that artest is better at back 2 the basket,
honestly the 09 orlando team was the best thing for him, surround him with shooters because once he gets double teamed he cant do shit. and definitely hes no where being close to clutch
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LOL REMEMBER WHEN KAREEM WANTED TO HELP HIM OUT WITH HIS POST MOVES LAST YEAR AND HE DECLINED? :stupid: :camp:
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lol @ calling dwight a "kwame brown in the 90s"
he'd be a top 10 center but nowhere near top 5 (ewing, hakeem, shaq, robinson and mourning). but howard could be a great rebounder and defender in any era.
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lol @ calling dwight a "kwame brown in the 90s"
he'd be a top 10 center but nowhere near top 5 (ewing, hakeem, shaq, robinson and mourning). but howard could be a great rebounder and defender in any era.
i really doubt he could guard the likes of ewing and hakeem, howards used to guarding TODAYS centers who arent really talented, if he went up against hakeem he'd get faked so hard he'd be in the opposite side of the paint.
considering dwight has such low basketball IQ, remember when he was telling Nash How to play Point and where and how to pass?
dwight just isnt smart
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lol @ calling dwight a "kwame brown in the 90s"
he'd be a top 10 center but nowhere near top 5 (ewing, hakeem, shaq, robinson and mourning). but howard could be a great rebounder and defender in any era.
HE'D BE A POWERFORWARD IN THE 90S, AND NOWHERE NEAR TOP 5