In a matchup for the battle of California, the upstart Golden State Warriors are taking on the ‘Lob City’ Los Angeles Clippers. This series has a lot of bad blood in it that goes all the way back to the regular season.
For me this series falls on the shoulders of the head coaches for both teams, Doc Rivers and Mark Jackson. For Rivers, this is his first season with the Clippers and the expectations are now higher than ever to get this team to the Finals. The regular season mattered but the playoffs especially for L.A. matters the most.
If the Clippers don’t want to be the little brother to the Lakers anymore they have to make it to the NBA Finals. A Western Conference Finals appearance will not do it. For the Golden State Warriors, they need a Western Conference Finals appearance as there have been rumblings about Mark Jackson being fired, which is just straight up horrendous.
For the Warriors to make that jump to the Western Conference Finals, David Lee and Andre Iguodala will have to be big time players. Last season, Lee was dealing with an injury but this season seems to be ready to go. Lee is averaging 18.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. That is what the Warriors will need since Andrew Bogut is out with an injury.
The Clippers need Blake Griffin to step up. This is Blake’s time if he wants to go down as an elite big man in the NBA. We know he can do the flashy dunks but his offense will be the key in this series.
With that being said, this is a hard series to pick a winner but I believe the Warriors come out on top.
Prediction: Warriors in 7
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