Clippers vs Lakers: Why Lob City Can't Overemphasize Battle of Los Angeles

While the battle for Los Angeles basketball supremacy will bring nice bragging rights, the Clippers can't go overboard in trying to sway that fight in their favor. 

It must be tempting, since they're the team that has been on the wrong end of that battle for so long, and have already beaten the Lakers once. But if the Clippers put too much emphasis on Wednesday's game, they will risk a lot of their season. 

Of course, this centers around point guard Chris Paul and his health. USA Today's NBA Injury Report expects Paul to be in the lineup for the first time since the Jan. 14th win against the Lakers. 

The Clippers will go as far as Paul takes them this year. He gets the team out and running, and takes pressure away from the inside presence of Griffin and outside shooters like Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler. 

Paul coming back to action tonight is great for the Clippers. But if they don't want to risk further injury, the Clips need to be conservative about his minutes. Hamstring injuries are not something to mess with, even for a great athlete like Paul. Playing too much on a bad hamstring will only further aggravate it, which will limit Paul's effectiveness for the rest of the year. 

That sounds like a doomsday prediction, but this stuff happens all the time in sports. Star players get rushed back early for a big game, and it hurts the rest of the team's season. There's no need to do it in a 16-game league like the NFL, and there's certainly no need for it in the NBA, even in a short season.

There is nothing wrong with Paul playing in tonight's game. It is the responsibility of the team and his doctors to say that he's good to play. Once they do that, nobody is in a position to suggest anything else. 

But dressing up and playing too many minutes are two different things. Paul shouldn't play anything more than 30 minutes tonight. If the five to 10 fewer minutes results in a Clippers' loss, it's not that big of a deal. 

The Clippers are a game ahead of the Lakers, with two more games with LA left on the schedule. In other words, this game isn't a season-defining game. The Lakers need it a lot more, and even they could get by with a loss.

It would certainly mean a lot for the Clippers to get a 2-0 season series lead on the team that's dominated them for years, but it's not that important. This team has fantastic potential this season. If they are going to meet that potential, Paul will need to be at 100 percent.

If they back Paul off tonight and lose because of it, it isn't that big of a deal. If they play him a lot and win, but he re-injures himself, it will be catastrophic. 

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