As I got ready for the NBA season, I broke down all of the opening night matchups and compared opposing teams.When I tried to compare the LA Lakers and the LA Clippers, I could not do so because of how lopsided the results were in favor of the Lake Show. 
It was actually painful, from an objective point of view, to see the Lakers continually outperform the Clippers in every positive category. But just as I stopped adding categories, I realized that the Clippers had something that was seemingly better than their cross-town rivals, and opening night opponents. That, of course, is their most recent draft, in which the Clippers got potential superstar Blake Griffin with the number one overall pick. The Lakers, on the other hand, got Chinemelu Elonu with their first pick at number 59.
This bright spot made me feel alright once I realized that the Clippers might have a decent future ahead of them.
Then I went to ESPN.com to check out a few things regarding stats and such.
Of course, as I was browsing the site, one of the headlines read, “Clippers’ Griffin has broken kneecap, out weeks.” Instantly, my jaw dropped in amazement. ”Did I really just read that?”
Literally, seconds after recognizing that the Clippers’ only advantage over their same-city rivals was the arrival of Blake Griffin, he was declared injured and out for at least a few weeks. It was as if somebody was telling me, ”Just when you think that the Clippers have any sort of advantage over the Lakers, it disappears into thin air like Houdini.”
Without the services of Blake Griffin for a while, the Clippers should struggle, but that is not really their biggest concern. What IS their biggest concern, is the fact that they are losing the one player that could actually get people in the seats this season. And although the Clips do boast a pretty good lineup of guys, Griffin was supposed to be the guy that excited the crowd and NBA fans in general.
Now that he is not there, at least for a while, the team supporters are going to be disappointed, and I am forced to continue my quest on finding a category in which the Clippers outperform the Lakers.
And now, we play the waiting game…
Filed under: NBA
