Clippers Gaining on Lakers, but Battle for LA May Soon Be Lost Cause for Both

LOS ANGELES — We tend to have short memories, so anyone considering the current dynamic between the Lakers and the Clippers is likely to recall the fact that the Clippers have beaten their in-arena partners by 48, 36 and 23 in the past year...even before a wire-to-wire 25-point rout Wednesday night.

History, however, is crazy long.

So Lakers coach Byron Scott has grounds to be incredulous at anyone comparing the franchises. Scott scoffed Wednesday night at there being a rivalry between the local teams and then said of the Clippers: "They want to kind of declare L.A. theirs. That's not happening either."

It means something coming from a longtime Lakers player and champion, which is why it made sense for the Lakers to hire Scott. Speaking Tuesday on the Lakers' flagship radio station, KSPN, team president Jeanie Buss endorsed the first-year coach, saying: "I'm really so pleased to have Byron Scott."

Despite the Lakers' 11-25 record, when Scott argues this isn't a rivalry, he can reference the Lakers and the Celtics (where Clippers coach Doc Rivers' ring came from, by the way) as the real deal.

"You can't have it be a rivalry until both teams are competing for championships," Scott said.

All jokes aside about how Scott's team can't even fathom doing that right now, the truth is that no one will remember the Clippers winning nine out of 10 regular-season games against the Lakers.

No one remembers that the Lakers won 10 of 12 regular-season games over the Clippers in the three years the Lakers ruled the NBA from 2000-02 or that they won 10 of 12 again en route to three consecutive NBA Finals appearances from 2008-10.

History is so long that there's a limit to what we can remember, and our memories are always back-loaded toward playoff time. The ends just dwarf the means.   

People from outside Southern California often ask these days if the Clippers are gaining on the Lakers as far as general interest given the clubs' divergent records in recent years. That sort of change isn't even on the radar.

Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images

For as much as casual people jump on and off bandwagons in the sports world—and that, it should be noted, still happens only through championship runs—fan loyalties shift with glacial slowness. No matter the fresh and healthy atmosphere spawned post-Donald Sterling with new Clippers owner Steve Ballmer's energy, this is just the kickoff to Ballmer's involvement in the game. 

And in all honesty, if the Clippers don't capitalize in championship form on the momentum from Sterling's banishment and this unique period where they got Chris Paul and the Lakers didn't, we'll be talking more very soon about something else: the prospect of the Lakers and the Clippers losing local fan interest to the NFL.

The odds of the Rams moving back to Los Angeles are increasing, with the latest development, via Jim Salter of The Associated Press, being that Rams owner Stan Kroenke isn't even returning calls from St. Louis city officials. The Raiders or Chargers still might wind up in L.A. at the same time, too. 

The ETA for the NFL coming back to L.A.? One year. And that timing would be uncanny.

The Rams left Anaheim for St. Louis in April 1995. The Raiders gave up on L.A. and headed back to Oakland in August 1995.

In 1996, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal came to the Lakers.

At the time, the Lakers hadn't advanced past the second round of the playoffs since Magic Johnson's 1991 HIV announcement. But Bryant brought a whole new era of Lakers glory to town in a decade when the mighty NFL had gone away and the NBA's popularity was exploding. 

Now, Bryant's intent is to retire in 2016—right when the NFL might be returning to town.

The Clippers, who will be negotiating a new local TV deal in 2016, appeared to be in prime position to capitalize on Bryant's exit. Now, there may be more chefs in the kitchen, and both the Rams and Raiders actually have more memorable history in L.A. to lean on than the Clippers.

For now, all the Clippers can do is try to meet what are looking like too-lofty expectations for this season while Ballmer upgrades the in-arena fan experience, as he promised.

Whereas the previous regime brought David Hasselhoff onto the court to rally Clippers fans before the fourth quarter of what wound up being a season-ending playoff game against Oklahoma City, Ballmer and new president Gillian Zucker on Wednesday night had Fergie deliver a pre-planned but impromptu-feeling performance of her song "L.A. Love (La La)" after the first quarter.

Fergie sang the national anthem on opening night for the Clippers. Her "L.A. Love (La La)" video included cameos from Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Paul. Her surprise show Wednesday night on the court was a cool and innovative bit of theater, with Ballmer helping the moment go viral via some funky dance moves from his courtside seat.

Fergie had been sitting next to Ballmer for the first quarter. She managed to survive it unscathed considering she was within elbow range for Ballmer's giant clapping gestures and manic fist-pumping as the Clippers blew out to a 14-point lead over the Lakers.

The whole night turned out as well as it could be choreographed by the Clippers: Even Kobe was captivated by Fergie's concert, and the Clippers ruled a game in which a step-slow Bryant had almost no moves of his own.

It was, however, just one Wednesday night in one January.

Only history will show if it was a step in the right direction.

Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.