Can Clippers replace Lakers as heart of Los Angeles?
By Melissa Rohlin
FOX Sports NBA Writer
Clippers guard Reggie Jackson made a comment Wednesday that drew the ire of many Angelenos.
Sitting in an interview room at Crypto.com Arena, home to both the Clippers and Lakers, Jackson, unprovoked, called out his team's flashy neighbors.
"No shots at them over there," Jackson said. "But they're the lights. They're bright lights. They're Hollywood. That's the Lakers. We've kinda understood that they're the show. That's what people have called them for so long. But I feel like we're definitely the heart of the city."
It's a bold remark.
There's no disputing that Los Angeles has always been a Laker town. The team has won 17 NBA championships, while the Clippers have never made it to the NBA Finals. Heck, before last season's Western Conference finals appearance, the Clippers had never made it past the second round of the playoffs.
But Jackson has a point. Even though the Clippers might not be the heart of the city, they're definitely the heartbeat.
What happened Wednesday couldn't have illustrated that any more clearly.
The star-studded Lakers suffered their worst loss of the season, a phrase the purple and gold seem to breathe new life into on a weekly basis.
Led by LeBron James and Russell Westbrook, who have a combined 27 All-Star appearances, the spiraling Lakers fell 139-130 to the Houston Rockets, who entered the night with the worst record in the league. The Lakers are a stunning nine games below .500 with 17 games left in the season.
Meanwhile, the Clippers, who were without their two best players in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, pulled off a gutsy 115-109 win over the Washington Wizards, clawing their way back from a 10-point deficit.
To put it simply: The Clippers are fighting for their lives while the Lakers are playing dead.
The Lakers are without a doubt the heart of this city, but right now, their pulse has flatlined. They've lost six of seven games since the All-Star break. Granted, they've been without Anthony Davis (foot sprain) since mid-February, but they have three other Hall of Famers on the roster. There's no excuse for them to be this bad.
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There's also no reason the Clippers should be this good. They sit eighth in the Western Conference, 5.5 games ahead of the ninth-place Lakers. And they've been without Leonard (ACL tear in his right knee) all season, while George (elbow) has played in only 26 of the team's 68 games, 11 fewer than Davis.
What the Clippers have been doing is damn impressive.
It's understandable that Jackson took a jab at the Lakers seemingly out of nowhere. The Clippers are playing with much more heart, but the conversation always seems to revolve around the Lakers.
Even when the Lakers missed the playoffs six seasons in a row from 2013 to '19, they still dominated the discourse. During that time, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin generated some buzz for the Clippers, but the real story was always the same: "When will the Lakers be good again?"
L.A. is so much a Lakers city that people would rather trash talk their own team than celebrate the accomplishments of its so-called little brother who has been clawing and scraping for relevance.
Nobody understands that better than Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, who played for the Lakers from 1998 to 2001, winning titles alongside Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in 2000 and '01.
When asked about Jackson's comment, Lue praised the Clippers organization for heading in the right direction but acknowledged that his team doesn't necessarily have an argument in the debate over the heart of the city.
"The team has 17 championships, so we can't talk about that," he said.
That might be true, but right now, the Clippers are exceeding expectations while the Lakers are shockingly beneath them. James himself acknowledged that after the Clippers swept their season series against the Lakers last week.
"I mean, they're a better team," he said, stoic.
It makes no sense. On paper, the Lakers should be one of the top teams in the Western Conference, but instead, they're hoping to make the play-in tournament.
Conversely, no one would've batted an eye if the Clippers had turned out to be one of the worst teams in the league without their stars, but they're in the postseason hunt.
While Westbrook makes excuses, Jackson, Marcus Morris Sr., Luke Kennard and Nicolas Batum make huge plays. While there are cries for Frank Vogel to be fired, there are whispers that Lue is a contender for Coach of the Year. While James' MVP-caliber season is overshadowed by his team's mediocrity, the grit of the Clippers' role players is drowned by their franchise's reputation.
That was never clearer than Wednesday. Both teams had a chance to show what they're made of, with both games going down to the wire. Their responses couldn't have been more different.
In overtime, the Lakers' defense crumbled, allowing the youngest roster in the league to go on a 10-0 run, shooting 7-for-8 from the field and 5-for-5 from beyond the arc.
The Clippers, on the other hand, dug deep with the game tied at 104 with 4:30 left. Five players — none of whom has ever been an All-Star — scored from all over the court in the final minutes, and they held the Wizards to five points.
It was the difference between a team that cared deeply and one that was simply coasting. It was the difference between a team that played with heart and one that didn't.
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Last season, the Clippers made the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history, and the Lakers were eliminated in the first round. But the needle didn't move a hair. The question now is: Will it ever?
When Leonard and George return, this Clippers team could really be something special. But even if that happens, will the Clippers be able to pierce the realm of the city's consciousness? Will they ever matter in Los Angeles?
According to Jackson, the team's scrappy pulse needs to be recognized.
It's loud and strong. People just need to be willing to hear it.
"[We] always talk in the locker room with the guys that they got a 50-year head start, the Lakers did, so I understand what it is in this city," he said. "It definitely is overwhelmed by Lakers fans.
"But I feel like Clippers Nation is like the heart. It truly is."
Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.
