When fully healthy, the Los Angeles Clippers were one of the most consistent teams in the NBA. They played good defense and better offense and looked like a big contender out of the Western Conference.
That’s why some people were disappointed to see them tanking the final two games of the season in an attempt to avoid the Los Angeles Lakers until a hypothetical Western Conference Finals.
The Clippers rathered finish 4th to 3rd and that could’ve backfired, as the Lakers were a three-pointer away from losing to the Golden State Warriors in the play-in game.
That’s why former NBA Champion BJ Armstrong criticized them, claiming that you can’t say that you’re the best and then run away from your biggest rival:
“You know as a basketball purist it was rather disappointing; it was disappointing to watch this tactic. I understand it, but if you’re going to be the best you got to beat the best and you can’t avoid it,” Armstrong said on Sky Sports’ Heat Check.
“So I get what they were doing and there’s part of me you’re saying I understand you want to give yourself and put yourself in the best possible but I got to stick to my principles here and say you know what bring it if you’re going to be a champion bring it on whoever I got to play first round, second round, bring it I got to beat them at some point so it was a little disappointing from that perspective,” he concluded.
The strangest part about this is that the Clippers are perhaps the biggest threat to the Lakers in the Western Conference and they’ve beaten them multiple times in the regular season.
Now, they’ll have to get back to their winning ways and prove that they have what it takes to make it to the NBA Finals, regardless of who they have to face along the way.
