Lake Show Life has a special report on a feud that could turn nasty between the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers after their matchup on Christmas Day.
The Los Angeles Lakers played the LA Clippers on Christmas Day. With both teams on losing streaks, the game may have lost some luster. But reports about free agency and sniping about load management can bring excitement back to the NBA.
The highly anticipated rematch with the Lakers and the Clippers could be a glimmer of hope for the NBA. What are they hoping for you ask? Attention. For people to care. Maybe to show that the regular season actually matters.
Many believe that the NBA has turned into a watered-down version of the past. Soft. A bunch of players that don’t want to compete.
Over the years, the NBA has tried to distance itself from the days of the “Bad Boy” Pistons vs. Michael Jordan or the wars the New York Knicks put him through.
How about those Knicks/Miami Heat battles that included a head coach now turned ESPN color analyst hanging on to one of the player’s legs. Yes, we are talking about you, Jeff Van Gundy.
After the 1990s was filled with some of the worst brawls in NBA history, the NBA started cracking down on these WWE type matches with technicals, two types of flagrant fouls, suspensions and policing players coming off the bench.
Outside of Russell Westbrook‘s borderline hatred for Patrick Beverley after a dirty play that injured his knee, there is no real beef. Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns have danced on the court this year fueled by social media feeds.
https://twitter.com/TheAthleticNBA/status/1189770761105375232
But nobody takes Towns seriously. Jimmy Butler took his street cred with him to Philly last year and it’s still in a box somewhere when he moved on to Miami. Now to some, the NBA is nothing but players not wanting to compete but wanting to create partnerships for easy championships.
Rivalries now are now all about social media and discussions about who’s the G.O.A.T. It’s about NBA 2K and bad sports shows that say ridiculous things for clout.
There’s nothing right now hard to sell as the TV ratings continue to plummet. There are three emotions attached to sports and entertainment. There’s love, hate and indifference. The NBA is starting to tilt somewhere between hate and indifference.
That’s why the NBA NEEDS a Lakers/Clippers rivalry. It has everything that not only brings back the disenchanted NBA fans but bring in many more casuals. Why?
There’s really only one NBA rivalry that’s going on right now. It surrounds these two teams in the same city, shoot in the same building. The Lakers and Clippers are the only story in the NBA besides the “Greek Freak”, Giannis Antetokounmpo. These franchises have everything a real rivalry needs. From the owners to the last guy on the bench don’t care for each other.
The Lakers/Clippers game was the most important for the NBA out of the five-game festival. The storylines can strike interest for the rest of the season.
- It’s was one game that featured the two superstars with championship history surrounded by the talent to make a deep run to another championship this year.
- The one game where the reality of who is the best player in the league is determined on the court and not on a keyboard or video game controller.
- The two stars have the same agenda but done in a different way.
- If executed correctly, the marketing scheme of the NBA will be changed. No longer will one player carry the global responsibilities of exposing the league.
- The media will find outside forces to add to the drama.
For any narrative to garner attention, you must have two elements. You need a hero and a villain. You have the “Babyface” in LeBron James, whose charge is to bring a title back to one of the most iconic franchises in NBA history. In the “City of Angels”, he’s the King.
Then you have the “Villain” in Kawhi Leonard, who comes from another country where he was a powerful force, to take over the hero’s domain.
It may sound like a Walt Disney movie or something from Star Wars, but are they struggling for people to watch their product? The NBA can do this. It’s not like they hadn’t done it before.