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basketball, Clipper Nation, Clippers, Crypto.com Arena, hockey, Inglewood, Intuit Dome, Kings, Lake Show, Lakers, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Lakers, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, NBA, NHL, playoffs, postseason, pro basketball, Stanley Cup
HOW I SEE THINGS ULTIMATELY UNFOLDING FOR THE THREE SO CAL WINTER SPORTS TEAMS IN THEIR PLAYOFF RUNS
SEASON RECORDS AT A GLANCE…
Los Angeles Clippers: 51-31, Fourth place in the Western Conference
- PACIFIC DIVISION CHAMPIONS, finishing two games ahead of the Phoenix Suns
- FIRST ROUND OPPONENT: Dallas Mavericks, starting Sunday, April 21st
Los Angeles Lakers: 47-35, Seventh place in the Western Conference
- Finished third in the Pacific Division, four games behind the Clippers
- Won three of four games over the Clippers in this season’s Hallway Series
- Beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 110-106, in the NBA Play-In Tournament on April 16th
- FIRST ROUND OPPONENT: Denver Nuggets, starting Saturday, April 20th
Los Angeles Kings: 43-27-11, 97 points, Eighth place in the Western Conference (one more regular season game to go)
- Currently in fourth place in the Pacific Division
- Clinched spot in the playoffs as a Wild Card (as of now)
- REGULAR SEASON FINALE: Chicago Blackhawks at Crypto.com Arena, Thursday, April 18th
- FIRST ROUND OPPONENT: Dallas Stars if the regular season ended today, also possibly the Edmonton Oilers – TBD
L.A. Kings players enjoying a moment…
MY PREDICTIONS:
I’ll give the three winter sports teams,
Who happen to share the same arena in downtown L.A. for their home games – though the Clippers will be moving to Inglewood next season, playing at the Intuit Dome next to SoFi Stadium,
Plenty of credit for having solid seasons that ended with winning records and postseason berths.
However…
From what I’ve seen from those Lakers, Clippers and Kings,
They gave me the impression of teams that weren’t consistent enough in their play;
One night they would be outstanding world beaters, the next night they would be so bad, they’d lose to CIF State Champion Studio City Harvard-Westlake (in the Lakers and Clippers’ case) or the University of Denver, who won hockey’s NCAA title in what is called the Frozen Four (in the Kings’ case)
Because of that, and the opponents those three teams will be facing in their first round,
I feel I have no choice but to officially predict…
First round exits for the Clippers, Lakers and Kings.
In either five or six games.
I certainly hope they prove me wrong, as it would be nice to see a Lakers vs Clippers Western Conference Finals,
Or the Kings hoisting what would be their third Stanley Cup.
But I simply don’t see that happening,
Especially with the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard hurting and the Lakers’ Anthony Davis and LeBron James seemingly being so brittle.
So I’ll just go back to enjoying baseball and softball,
And rooting for the Dodgers to get it together as they haven’t been so great as of late.
A Clipper and a Laker going at it during a Hallway Series game…