LA Clippers: The restart bubble will awaken a sleeping giant

Will the bubble awaken the LA Clippers, the NBA’s sleeping giant?

Last offseason, the LA Clippers made two of the biggest moves in the NBA. After Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving had elected to sign with the Brooklyn Nets, the Los Angeles Lakers made the big splash of acquiring Anthony Davis via trade. Then, however, it was the Clippers’ turn to shock the league.

They did so by landing both Paul George (via trade) and then Kawhi Leonard (via free agency).

After both Los Angeles teams made their moves, many debated which team (Clippers or Lakers) would win the title. Both were going to be viewed as prohibitive favorites. Entering the 2019-20 season, many predicted we’d see an all-Los Angeles Western Conference Finals.

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It’s easy to forget now too but around that same time, many people were giving the Clippers an edge over the Lakers. As the Lakers gave away a multitude of talented young players and were left to field a roster of veterans on low contracts around James and Davis, the Clippers added Leonard and George to an impressive core of Patrick Beverly, Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, and Ivica Zubac.

Then, to top it off, the Clippers had a championship coach in Doc Rivers while the Lakers hired head coach Frank Vogel, who has had success in the NBA but isn’t nearly on the same level as Rivers. Everything seemed in place for the Clippers to narrowly edge out the Lakers for Southern California – and, from all indications, NBA supremacy.

Just days away from the season officially resuming in Orlando, it seems as if all the Clippers hype has gone by the wayside. For much of the season, the Lakers seemed like the unstoppable force. Heading into the restart, that seems to be what all the talk has revolved around too. At least in the Western Conference.

However, if their star duo is finally healthy, perhaps this recent layoff might’ve just been what the Clippers have needed.

It’s time to bring some hype back to the LA Clippers

What people need to understand is that the Clippers always pictured their regular season to turn out this way. They knew that starting the season they would be missing Paul George as he recovered from offseason surgery. They knew that at the same time they would need to manage Kawhi Leonard carefully if they wanted him primed for the postseason.

Even though other injuries to key players like Willams and Beverly have troubled the team in unexpected ways, they knew the whole time that they’d lose the battle to the Lakers for regular season glory because LeBron James and Anthony Davis were compelled to silence their critics. For the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard had already proved that he can be the most dangerous player in the league in the playoffs. It was always about the postseason for this team.

Let’s not act like the Clippers are a total peg below the Lakers or Bucks because even in a tumultuous regular season, the Clippers were 2-1 against the Lakers, and only lost to the Bucks because the team lacked both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in early season matchups.

In fact, through all the moving pieces, the Clippers still held the third-ranked offense and fifth-ranked defense in the league scoring the fourth-most points per game and grabbing the third-most rebounds per game in the process.

This Clippers team, with a healthy Leonard-George combo, will be lethal in the playoffs. Keep in mind that Kawhi Leonard is a two-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner who has shown that playing that when playing at full-force he’s still the best defender in the NBA. George on the other hand was a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year last season and is also considered one of the best defenders in the NBA.

Add to that a healthy Patrick Beverly, who is an All-Defensive point guard, and protection on the back end from a Montrezl Harrell and Ivica Zubac, the Clippers have a chance to be one of the best and most versatility defense in the entire NBA come playoff time. One that could rival the defense of the Bucks or Lakers.

On the offensive side of the ball, don’t doubt that Clippers have a heavy dose of the most important thing in playoff basketball, stars who can create their own shots. The Lakers have LeBron James who can do that, but then Anthony Davis has proven during his time in New Orleans that he is better served to be set-up for scores rather than creating them himself.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George barely played together this season and that was by design. The Clippers wanted to manage their stars for both the postseason and long-term so they spent a lot of time alternating Leonard and George in the lineup. Now as the playoffs await, Doc Rivers is going to be ready to release a two-headed monster with a duo that features two of the NBA’s best two-way wings ever.

When that happens, look for the Clippers to have a lockdown perimeter defense that forces turnovers and makes some of the leagues best scorers work hard for points while also having an offense with two stars that at any moment can shoot from distance, score in isolation, work the post, or run a pick-and-roll. This Clippers team is still a threat and maybe they’re even more motivated since many have begun to put them down as only a second-tier contender.