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Former NBA Player Questions Clippers for Purposely Sabotaging Games
As the regular season has come to a close, the teams are all set for the playoffs. The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the favorites to win the title this time around. With the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in their ranks, the Clippers have had a productive campaign this time, finishing fourth in the regular season. The Clippers have a deep squad amongst their ranks as the organization aims to win their first-ever NBA championship.
However, the franchise rested their key players in their last two games of the season. This led to speculations that they wanted to avoid a matchup against their arch rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. The jury is still out on whether they were tanking these matches, or if they had given genuine rest to their star players.
Former three-time NBA champion, BJ Armstrong, gave his take on the situation.
Did the Clippers avoid the Los Angeles Lakers?
“You know as a basketball purist it was rather disappointing; it was disappointing to watch this tactic. I understand it, but if you’re going to be the best you got to beat the best and you can’t avoid it.
“So I get what they were doing and there’s part of me you’re saying I understand you want to give yourself and put yourself in the best possible but I got to stick to my principles here and say you know what bring it if you’re going to be a champion bring it on whoever I got to play first round, second round, bring it I got to beat them at some point so it was a little disappointing from that perspective,” said Armstrong.
Notably, alongside Jordan, BJ Armstrong won the NBA title on three occasions. He talked about how the Clippers have given a psychological advantage to the Lakers. To sum up, there are conclusions that the Clippers wanted to avoid the Lakers as they are the favorites to land the title.
Can Kawhi Leonard and Co. propel the Clippers to their first NBA title?
LeBron James looks set to win his second NBA championship with the Lakers. They defeated the Warriors and took the seventh seed as they beat them in the inaugural play-in game.
Moreover, the Clippers will now face the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs. The franchise has been aiming to win a title for a long time. Having assembled a competitive squad, Kawhi Leonard will be their go-to man.
In addition, there is no doubt that the Western Conference puts up a harder challenge. The gulf in quality with the teams in the east is clear to see.
Even though the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns are leading on the top, the Los Angeles Lakers are the team to beat in the West. Whether Leonard can battle through will be an intriguing prospect.
But, the Lakers are one of the best teams in the NBA, and they will set the benchmark for other teams to attain success. Can Clippers go all the way?
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