Are the Lakers Losing Los Angeles?
LOS ANGELES — If you were an alien who had only recently touched down in Los Angeles, you'd probably think this was a Clippers town and not the Lakers' kingdom.
The abundance of Angelenos adorned in Clippers garb might point you in that direction. So, too, might the light-post signs around downtown L.A. touting the Clippers' impending playoff push.
But nothing would be a more convincing tip than what's happened inside the Staples Center, where the Clippers have vanquished the Lakers a franchise-record seven times running—by an average of 24.6 points per game.
The Lakers' latest losses to the Clippers, in a home-and-home set in early April, also registered as the 56th and 57th defeats of the former's dismal 2014-15 campaign. No Purple-and-Gold squad has ever suffered so mightily, dating back to the franchise's roots in Minneapolis.
The previous high? A whopping 55 losses, set last season under Mike D'Antoni.
Despite what the Lakers' recent struggles suggest, Los Angeles has long belonged to the Purple and Gold. The Lakers own a 98-39 edge in the head-to-head matchup, a 16-0 advantage in championships and a 24-year head start to their residence in the City of Angels over the Clippers.
Clearly, though, the times they are a-changin', particularly for the Clippers.
In 2013, the Clippers claimed their first Pacific Division championship. In 2014, they set a franchise record with 57 wins. This year, they'll make their fourth straight playoff appearance—the longest streak this team has ever seen, be it in Buffalo, San Diego or L.A.
Might the simultaneous rise of one franchise and fall of the other be enough to change this town's colors from purple and gold to red, white and blue?
"It’s going to take several lifetimes to overcome the Lakers, how inbred they are in the fans in this town because you’re not just talking about fathers and sons, mothers and daughters," Ralph Lawler, the Clippers' iconic play-by-play voice, told Bleacher Report. "You’re talking about grandparents and great grandparents who have been fans of this franchise since the 1960s, when they debuted with the likes of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor, for crying out loud. Then they brought in Wilt Chamberlain.
"They’ve always had marquee stars. They’ve always been a championship contending team. They deserve every bit of the attention and love that this city has given them."
The Southland Swing
The Lakers have done plenty to ingratiate themselves with the locals since defecting from Minneapolis in 1960. Of their 16 championships, 11 have been won while in L.A. Moreover, the Lakers have been to five times as many Finals (25) as draft lotteries (five) as L.A.'s biggest basketball draw.
Make that six lotteries after this season.
No Lakers squad has suffered through injuries and defections quite like this one has. Between Kobe Bryant's three consecutive season-ending ailments, Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol skipping town in back-to-back summers and Steve Nash's body forcing him into retirement, the Lakers have sunk from star-studded to star-crossed since 2012.
And that's to say nothing of the money and assets invested in Bryant, Howard and Nash, or the loss of Julius Randle, the No. 7 pick in the 2014 NBA draft, to a leg injury on opening night. Or the ripple effect Chris Paul's league-directed rerouting from the Lakers to the Clippers in December 2011 had on both franchises.
"[Fans] know this is a tough, down transition for the Lakers," said Mychal Thompson, a member of the Showtime Lakers who now calls games on radio for the team. "The Lakers have been down before, maybe not this low, but they always find a way to come back."
The Clippers know a thing or two about the kind of bad luck that's befallen and befuddled their neighbors. Despite their recent success, the Clippers still own the worst winning percentage of any franchise in NBA history (the Lakers are the winningest by both volume and percentage). Only eight times in 31 seasons in L.A. have the Clippers qualified for the postseason.
And when it comes to draft busts, devastating injuries and erstwhile flameouts, the Lakers can't so much as hold a candle to the Clippers' sordid past.
"I feel for them. I feel their pain. I do," said Lawler, the Clippers' iconic play-by-play voice. "I know exactly what it’s like. Laker fans will tend to think that Clipper fans are crowing. Well, I’m certainly not crowing. I’m enjoying the Clippers’ ride right now. I’m not enjoying the Lakers’ slide right now at all."
The Cost of Failure
Judging by noise level and apparel representation at this past week's Lakers-Clippers contests, the Clippers faithful didn't have any trouble scoring seats from their downtrodden Lakers counterparts when it was the the latter's turn to host.
The reverse has been a problem for the Clippers. Fans of the Clippers' opponents have had little difficulty filling the stands and depriving the home team of crowd energy off which to feed. Case in point: wWen the Golden State Warriors came to town on March 31, their in-game support was nearly as vociferous as that of the Clippers.
"Home-court advantage is just not there for us," Blake Griffin said after that loss (via The Los Angeles Times). So if that's how it feels in the playoffs, then it's not looking good."
Compared to the Lakers' issues, the Clippers' current problem is a good one to have. Per Grantland's Thomas Golianopoulos, the Lakers' local television ratings on Time Warner Cable SportsNet fell by 49 percent from 2012-13 to 2013-14 and have dropped another 25 percent from last season to now—not to mention all the Lakers games that have been nixed from the national TV schedule in 2014-15.
Yet, "despite the Lakers being a lottery team and the Clippers being a legitimate championship contender, the Lakers are still outdrawing them in the ratings," said Thompson. According to The Los Angeles Times' Ben Bolch, the Clippers have registered a 1.10 rating on Fox Sports Prime Ticket in L.A.—a 13-percent drop from last season and still well below the Lakers' record-low (for them) 1.95 rating in 2014-15.
Those declines are merely continuations of an ongoing trend, though. Per The Los Angeles Times, the two teams posted significant slips in TV viewership at the midpoint of the 2013-14 season compared to that of 2012-13: 37.5 percent for the Lakers and 14.7 percent for the Clippers.
The real reckoning for the Lakers could soon come in the stands at Staples Center. According to ESPN, attendance at Lakers home games has slipped, however slightly, amid the misery of the last two seasons.
That may be just the tip of the iceberg if the Lakers' struggles continue.
"This can’t happen next year," Thompson said, when asked about the effect of losing on the Lakers' fan support. "This has got to be a 180-degree turn next year. I don’t mean winning a championship, but they must be a playoff contender next year. That’s a must."
If there's anything L.A. won't abide by, it's losers. Not when there are so many other quality sports options in town, be they collegiate or professional. Not when there's so much entertainment to partake in beyond athletic competition. Not when there's sunshine and warm weather seemingly every day, when seasons are merely suggestions for divvying up the calendar.
And certainly not when there's another NBA team in town filling highlight reels on YouTube and fighting for the Western Conference crown.
Purple-and-Golden?
As dark as these days may be for some fans in L.A., there's cause for optimism in Lakerland. With any luck, Bryant will be able to play through the final year of his contract and into retirement. Randle is already back to basketball activities, and should be ready to compete by the time the 2015-16 season rolls around.
If the Lakers' draft pick lands in the top-five by way of the lottery, they'll be able to add another blue-chip youngster to play alongside Randle and rookie point guard Jordan Clarkson, a promising prospect in his own right, over the long haul.
Beyond that, the Lakers will have oodles of cap space in the coming summers with which to lure free agents to a destination city and a franchise known for taking care of its stars.
Whether or not the tumult in the front office deters big names from donning the Lakers jersey is another story. The death of Dr. Jerry Buss in 2013 precipitated something of a power struggle among his children, chiefly Jeanie, the team president, and Jim, who heads up basketball operations along with general manager Mitch Kupchak.
As Golianopoulos wrote:
"Jeanie Buss is the boss. She’s also not. She is the decision-maker, the final hammer, the decider within the organization. Even when it comes to basketball operations, she has veto power over her brother Jim and general manager Mitch Kupchak. She is their superior. But she does not, and says she will not, execute that veto power. She has empowered them to do what it takes to win.
"
To that end, the Lakers may have to survive off the stores of trust they've built up among their fans over the years until the operation turns around. "Laker fans know the Lakers know how to rebuild, so they’re sticking by us," said Thompson.
So, even if that rebuild takes longer than expected, the Lakers shouldn't be concerned about the Clippers gaining ground?
"No, only in the standings," Thompson added. "Never in the heart of LA. In the standings, definitely. But this will always be a Laker town."
"We have to win for a long time," Clippers coach Doc Rivers responded, when asked if his team crushing the Lakers on the court would precipitate a sea change off of it. "The Lakers, their footprint’s here and it’s going to be here forever, and it should be. I don’t get into that competition. We shouldn’t. Their footprint is pretty solid...Shaq size."
Big Enough For Both
The Lakers being L.A.'s default basketball team needn't condemn the Clippers to second-class status. The city has enough of a sports appetite to support more than one NBA team at a high level, especially with the NFL taking its sweet time returning to the area.
"It’s a huge, huge metropolis," Lawler said. "There’s plenty of room here for two teams—and at times, it’s been discussed the possibility of bringing a third NBA team to the city. There’s a lot of fans to go around here, and all the Clippers want to do is win basketball games and let you or somebody else decide whose town this is."
In truth, the Clippers are probably better off forging their own identity, rather than trying to emulate what the Lakers have done over the years. Their attempt to put on a show against the Lakers to open the 2013-14 season resulted in the Clippers' most recent loss to their Staples Center co-tenants.
Since then, they've focused on beating the Lakers when they play them rather than trying to be the Lakers all season long, as the case seemed to be when the Clippers were still at peak Lob City.
"We just kind of came out and kind of floated around and tried to put on a show," Blake Griffin recalled.
"Doc kept saying, 'We came out to entertain instead of compete,' " Clippers guard J.J. Redick said. "He said that to us every time we’ve played them since, and I think we haven’t lost since that game against them.
"I think if we have that mindset that we’re going to compete and we’re not going to try to put on a show because we’re in the Staples Center and it’s the Lakers-Clippers, then we’ll have success."
Added Rivers: "I just think we’re very serious. They want to win and they don’t care if you enjoy it."
In Lawler's estimation, the Clippers would actually benefit from a Lakers revival. A rising tide lifts all boats, including those on the Pacific Coast, and a real rivalry between L.A.'s teams would presumably have that impact.
So far, a truly competitive tiff between these two has been hard to come by. In years past, the Lakers regularly stomped the Clippers. Nowadays, those tables have turned toward the opposite extreme.
"Our guys don’t think of it as a rivalry," Lawler said. "This used to be the biggest game of the year for everybody in the Clipper organization."
Some day, it will be again. Once the Lakers and Clippers find more equal footing among the league's elites, they'll have the rivalry hoops fans in L.A. have long been pining for.
"I think we’re both hoping it will be [a rivalry]," said Lakers head coach Byron Scott. "They’ve got a very good basketball team. To me, a rivalry is when you have two teams that are very good. Right now, we’re not there, but we’re hoping to get back there. We know we will, and if they continue to play the way they’ve been playing, it’ll be a rivalry. But right now, to me, it’s not."
When that time comes, it won't matter whether L.A. is a Lakers town or a Clippers town. It'll simply be a basketball town, if not the basketball town, to the benefit of the Lakers and Clippers alike.
That being said, if both squads are going strong, the Lakers will still have the wider and more entrenched foundation of fandom on which to stand.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained first-hand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter.
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