Preseason Shows Why Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers Will Dominate Lakers

The Clippers are a better team than the Lakers now. After watching the preseason games, it's apparent. It's not just that they won both games, it's how they won both games that makes me think this. 

Let's get some of the excuses out of the way first. The first and most obvious is that it was "just a preseason game." It being "just a preseason game" is an argument in the Clippers favor, not the Lakers. 

The reality is that the Clippers need for preseason is about 100 times greater than the Lakers' need. Two types of teams get more out of their preseason than others, younger teams and teams that are coming together. 

Younger teams need it more because they are still learning. Teams with lots of interchanging parts need it because they are still learning one another. 

Granted, the Lakers have a coaching change and that's got its own learning curve, but they are a much more experienced team with a starting five that hasn't really changed. 

The Clippers are more likely to improve as the season goes on, as they get to know one another and more importantly as Chris Paul learns the tendencies of his new teammates. 

The other excuse is going to be that preseason games don't matter, but let's not pretend that these games weren't "contested" in the sense that the Lakers were trying to win and failed. They didn't have the feel of postseason games, but they did have the feel of regular season games. 

When you take a step back and just look at things form an objective standpoint the Clippers have the better starting five, too.

They have the clear advantage at point guard and small forward. The Lakers have advantage at shooting guard and center, although the difference between Chris Paul and Derek Fisher at point guard is by far the widest gap. 

So who has the edge at power forward? At this point, I think the edge has to go Griffin. With Paul feeding him the ball you know his numbers are going to go up, and with Pau getting a bit older you know his numbers are going down. 

Then there's the whole momentum factor here. The Clippers are juiced and optimistic about the season. The Lakers are disgruntled. Yes, they have the championship experience, but going back to last year's collapse in the postseason they have all the look and feel of a crumbling empire. 

It might seem "premature" to some, but they're called predictions for a reason. It's a "pre diction" which means a "diction" i.e. speaking of things before or "pre" their happening. If you wait until after it happens it's not a prediction. The Clippers will own the Lakers this year. They will win "Battle: Los Angeles." 

I'm not sure how this fits into the whole Mayan calendar thing though.