Clipper guard Los Williams passes the ball against the Boston Celtics last month at the Staples Center. Williams and the rest of the Clippers will battle the Golden State Warriors on Sunday at the Staples Center at 12:30 p.m. Williams scored 36 points last Monday to help the Clippers beat the Warriors 135-131. They came back from a deficit of 31 points.
The Los Angeles Clippers just completed one of the largest comebacks in NBA playoff history last Monday and the Lakers are trying to complete a search for a new coach. Both teams are in positions that no one thought they would be in but that's the nature of the sports world.
The Clippers, led by Lou Williams' 36 points came from 31 points down to stun the Golden State Warriors in Oakland. Williams also had 11 assists and Danilo Gallinari had 25 points and Montrezl Harrell scored 24 and grabbed 10 rebounds. They will need that same effort at the Staples Center in game four if they expect keep the seven game series alive.
Game four will be Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Can the Clippers continue to put pressure on the Warriors after winning one game on the road? The two things the Clippers have going in their favor is confidence and the injury to Warrior center DeMarcus Cousins.
The injury to Cousins is significant because now the Warriors don't have one of the best centers in the league. His replacement Andrew Bogut took only two shots and scored three points in 16 minutes. Clipper centers Ivica Zubac and Harrell can hopefully take advantage of Bogut although he is a good basketball but not as good as Cousins.
After Sundays' game the series moves back to Oakland for game five on Wednesday and if the Clippers can win one more game, game six will be played in Los Angeles on April 26. For the Los Angeles sports fan the Clippers are the only spring professional team that is in the playoffs. The Lakers, Ducks and Kings all missed the post season this year.
The Lakers are now looking for a new coach and a new president of basketball operations. Magic Johnson is no longer president and Luke Walton and the Lakers mutually agreed to part ways which means he was actually fired. The next day Walton was hired to coach the Sacramento Kings.
Did the Lakers make a mistake by letting Walton go? The Lakers had a lot of injuries last season including the injury that caused LeBron James to miss 18 games the day after Christmas. At that time they were in fourth place in the Western Conference. They also suffered internal problems when Magic Johnson decided to tell the world that he wanted Anthony Davis to be a Laker regardless of who he had trade. That demoralized the team.
Now heading into the off season both teams have a lot of work to do but right now the Clippers are a step ahead of the Lakers because they are in the playoffs and the Lakers are at home watching the playoffs.
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