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NBA Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Clippers Are All Talk, No Walk

By @GoldenPerspectv

Los Angeles Clippers

Tim Fuller – USA Today Sports

Back in 2011, the streets of Los Angeles and other cities across the globe would buzz, “Chris Paul with Blake Griffin? They can definitely compete for a championship now.” Then 2012 rolled around and you’d hear, “They have a certified 2-guard with Jamal Crawford now and last year was just so they’d get their chemistry together. They’re a contender for sure.”

Then, in 2013 the Los Angeles Clippers added veterans such as Hedo Turkoglu, Glen Davis and Danny Granger. They also acquired the speedster point guard Darren Collison. And that’s still not to mention the 2008 NBA Champion head coach Doc Rivers. Talks dominated the streets such as, “Now the Clippers have depth AND a defensive-minded coach. They didn’t have that before. They’re going to the NBA Finals for sure.”

Now we are in the 2014-15 season and the Clippers are 11-5, sitting in 7th place in the Western Conference. We all know that the West is highly competitive when it comes to playoff seeding, so I’ll give them a pass on that. However, let’s take a peek at a couple of their losses:

Their second loss came at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. This was a huge statement game to show that the Clippers have evolved from last year and that last postseason’s series between the two clubs should not have gone seven games. Instead, the Warriors pounded the Clippers and took a 65-42 advantage going into halftime which was insurmountable for Los Angeles.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the following week the Clippers allowed a Chicago Bulls team without Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol to come into the Staples Center and embarrass them too. The Clippers simply laid an egg and watched as Chicago scored over 100 points without their two best playmakers.

This Clippers team is not ready (once again) to be labeled as an elite team; they are a very good team, but not yet elite. They desperately need to acquire that killer instinct so there is no question that the Clippers are serious about contending this year. Paul is the only individual on that team who shows emotion on the floor — however, it always takes someone to bark at CP3 before he begins to bite.

The Clippers team needs to develop what I like to call the “Mamba Mentality.” Kobe Bryant‘s killer instinct and competitive spirit comes rare in this league. At minimum, Griffin and DeAndre Jordan need to adopt that same mindset so that their other teammates follow suit. Teams without their star player(s) should not even be able to compete with a team as talented as the Clippers. If the Clippers can snap into a ruthless and zero tolerance team, they will be extremely dangerous. But until then, they are all talk.

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