National Basketball Association

Chip City?

Updated Feb. 29, 2020 8:27 p.m. ET

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When the Los Angeles Clippers signed Kawhi Leonard and traded for Paul George this offseason, LA officially became the mecca of basketball.

But the Clippers, with their two stars mixed with the rest of their roster, were considered Hollywood's best.

Another west coast team, the Denver Nuggets, were also hailed as a potential favorite in the Western Conference – a team with a chance to go to the NBA Finals behind their fun-loving superstar center Nikola Jokic.

 Everything hasn't coalesced the way many expected, and we got a glimpse of that on Friday night.

For LAC, it was an impressive win over the second place team in the Western Conference, proving that while one squad appears to be a ways away, another is ready to make a run.

No player on the Clippers played more than 25 minutes, while seven players scored in double figures.

A lot has been made of the Clippers' season to date. They have battled injuries, and some fear that Kawhi Leonard's load management approach could potentially create chemistry issues. 

However, they now own two wins over the Lakers, the West's best team, and also own wins over the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets and the Nuggets.

Did Friday's win show that LAC can flip the proverbial "switch" and turn it on against the best of the best? And not just win, but dominate?

It did. It really did.

Conversely, for the Nuggets, it continued a troubling pattern of performances against the West's top teams.

Denver boasts a record of 40-19, but they have struggled against the Lakers, losing both matchups when both LeBron James and Anthony Davis played, and now, they were blown away by a fully-healthy Clippers team.

But there is a difference between not your night and not your year.

The West looks to belong to one of the two Los Angeles teams.

We'll see if the Clippers can clip the Lakers.  

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