Last season, the entire basketball world expected the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers to have a real battle for a spot in the NBA finals.
The tension between the two teams was high, especially inside the NBA bubble during the summer.
Lakers striker Jared Dudley, in his new book “Inside the NBA Bubble”, wrote about the small talk his team had to endure since the Clippers.
“We heard some of these guys talking about how they are the team to be defeated in LA,” wrote Dudley. “Is it okay if Kawhi [Leonard] says things like that. He’s defending a championship. We don’t stumble if someone like Patrick Beverley is talking badly; that’s how he feeds his family. We understand. We respect agitation. “
Dudley also revealed the one thing about the Clippers that most pissed him off and his teammates.
“But we think it’s disrespectful for Paul George, who didn’t win, to put himself at the level of Bron (LeBron James) and AD (Anthony Davis),” wrote Dudley. “It motivates us. When we see those guys around the compound, we don’t really kick them. The only exception, of course, is Markieff [Morris], whose twin brother Marcus is at Clippers. This probably prevents tensions from boiling over ”.
George was always a very good player, but he was never considered a true superstar, partly because of his varied history when it comes to how he played in the playoffs.
The Clippers, of course, ended up dodging the Lakers by stifling a 3-1 lead in the series in the second round of the playoffs against the Denver Nuggets.
Purple and Gold then won the 17th NBA championship in the franchise’s history by defeating the Denver Nuggets and then the Miami Heat.
Along with Utah Jazz, the Lakers and Clippers are currently the Western Conference class. The hype and arrogance surrounding and emanating from the Clippers have subsided, but the team is still a legitimate threat to the Lakers’ hopes of consecutive world titles.