Lakers: Are the Clippers the Future NBA Title Hope of Los Angeles Instead?

Let it be on record for me saying it here and now, just like how over the summer I predicted the trials and tribulations our team the Lakers would be facing this season to the scoffs and denials of most of the front-running bandwagon "Laker Nation" fans on here.

Yes, "fans" that never supported this team when it was down, never saw Sedale Threatt or Cedric Ceballos play at the Forum, never had nothing to do with the team until we were winning rings again.

"Fans" who will be gone in a couple of years or less, when we stop winning, when there is another "next big thing" to bandwagon on.

Well, here goes: The Clippers might just be that "bandwagon," and will be our city's NBA title hope sooner than you think.

The way they are playing, if they can get consistent and play the bad teams as well as they play the good teams, they actually have a shot at the eighth seed this year.

Yes, it's a long shot, but we're at less than the half-way point of the season, and the Clippers have won 10 out of the past 14 games and against GREAT teams. 

By that, I'm talking about the Heat AND the Bulls just on this recent streak, and (of course) against our Lakers, and they've beaten the Nuggets, the Thunder, the Hornets and the Spurs when both had the best record in the league. 

When they beat the Heat, Miami had the best record in the East.

They are about six games behind the eighth seed, Portland, which is daunting but not impossible.

The Blazers just lost Brandon Roy for the season, which is going to impact them in a major way. It already has, with them coming off three straight losses against Miami, New York and Phoenix, before picking up two wins against bottom-feeders New Jersey and Minnesota.

Considering the seventh seed is Denver, they will surely plummet after trading Carmelo. Doubtful they will make the playoffs after that, which means at least one team will move up.

The remaining teams in between the Clippers and the eighth seed are the Warriors, Rockets, Suns and Grizzlies.

Not an easy tasks considering all the above teams, except for Memphis, are on mini-winning streaks. And as we all know, the Grizzlies embarrassed our Lakers by 19 points at Staples Center.

We know they have talent and can play. They followed up that blow-out win with wins against the Thunder and the Jazz. You can't dismiss this team and if I had to put money on it, I would say the Grizzlies would end up with the eighth seed in the West and not the Clippers.

However, if the Clips somehow do manage to get in the playoffs, watch out!

We could see a first-round upset not unlike how another Baron Davis team, the Warriors, upset the No. 1 seed Mavericks in 2007. That could be against the Spurs or, scary enough, the Lakers.

With how the Clippers came back in the fourth quarter to beat us yesterday, they've proven they are not the pushover Clippers of the past.

If the Clippers get past the first round, who's to say they can't beat the Spurs or even our Lakers? They've beaten the Spurs before and they've beaten us.

The Mavericks? With Caron Butler out for the season and Dirk Nowitzki's knee problem, not to mention the Mavs' traditional melt-down in the playoffs, it's not completely unrealistic for the Clippers pull an upset over Dallas.

Same could be said of the Thunder who the Clippers have also beaten. The Jazz would poise a huge challenge, but it's doubtful they will get past the first round anyway going against likely opponent Oklahoma City.

Of course, beating a team in the regular season means nothing in the playoffs. But the Clippers have proven that, at least on paper, they have a collection of talent that can compete with any other team in the league.

So that leaves us with the Finals. Could we be seeing a LA-Miami Finals, that is, Clippers vs. Heat? How lovely that would be and we already know the Clippers can beat the Heat.

Granted, this is all far-fetched and the Clippers are unlikely to make the playoffs this year. 

But barring a serious injury to Blake Griffin or Eric Gordon, and if Clippers owner Donald Sterling can get it together this time and not break up a fine young team, we might actually be on the verge of another Los Angeles sports dynasty—that is of the Los Angeles Clippers.