While the Los Angeles Lakers returned to glory by winning the franchise’s 17th championship, as LeBron James and Anthony Davis etched their names into Laker lore forever, one of the dominant storylines of the finish to the extraordinarily long 2019-20 NBA season was the failure of the Los Angeles Clippers to hold up their end of the bargain in creating the Western Conference Finals matchup that the NBA had been building towards ever since Kawhi Leonard and Paul George joined the Clippers.
Not only did the Clippers fail to make the Western Conference Finals, but they also did so while blowing a 3-1 lead and a 17-point lead in the 3rd quarter of Game 5 while holding a 3-1 lead. Even while the Lakers made it to the NBA Finals and beat the Denver Nuggets in five games, LeBron admitted earlier this week during his appearance on the Road Trippin’ podcast that the Clippers even disappointed him for failing to take advantage of the opportunity in front of them last season.
LeBron doesn't hold back on the Clippers pic.twitter.com/wSu9RNw6kI
— pickuphoop (@pickuphoop) December 8, 2020
The Clippers may have lost Montrezl Harrell to the Lakers but they added Serge Ibaka, who can help create more space with his 3-point shooting and also has an already established relationship with the Clippers star player Kawhi Leonard after the two were part of the 2019 NBA champion Toronto Raptors. The Lakers will see the Clippers plenty more this season, including their first preseason game on Dec. 11 and the season-opener on Dec. 22.
