East vs West so far

[mehyaM24]

They didn't though wtf? They had 0 shot against GS or Cleveland, maybe a "puncher's chance", but no REAL shot.

against a kyrie-less and love-less cleveland? they would have been favorites.

the clippers nearly won their first 2 opening road games against houston (and actually won 1) without chris paul even on the floor.

him seemingly going scoreless during the 4th quarter of a close-out game at staples, is a HUGE black-mark on his legacy. i can't stress that enough.

[DMAVS41]

I'm talking about last season's Clippers only. Was it impossible for them to have won the title? No, but it was extremely unlikely.

There's just no way that team was beating the Warriors in a series. They would've gotten murdered.

People keep confusing really good teams with contender, it's not the same thing. The Clippers were a really good team but they're not capable of realistically winning a championship.

I don't think OKC this season can win it all either from what I've seen, but I'm not 100% sure on them yet. Maybe they'll get to that level in the future.

I'm not confusing anything.

There are different levels of contenders....and the Clippers beating the Warriors would be something like a 20% chance if they made the conference finals and were healthy.

I don't view that as virtually impossible...

[Akhenaten]

then too many teams that actually won the title had "no chance"

Like who?

[DMAVS41]

Like who?

11 Mavs
04 Pistons
75 Warriors

[Young X]

I'm not confusing anything.

There are different levels of contenders....and the Clippers beating the Warriors would be something like a 20% chance if they made the conference finals and were healthy.

I don't view that as virtually impossible...

9 times outta 10 the Clippers are losing to the Warriors last season. Once again, it's not impossible, but extremely unlikely. They most likely would've gotten killed.

A contending team should be a team you could see winning a championship at the end of the year and not be shocked by it. Going into the playoffs, the Clippers weren't even expected to get past the 1st round. You would've gotten laughed at if you mentioned anything about a championship.

[Akhenaten]

11 Mavs
04 Pistons

Get out of here guy, 04 Pistons has a legit argument for greatest defensive team ever, Clippers are NOWHERE near their level. Mavs had Dirk, this one is more legit because people were saying Dirk would never win but that was more due to his prior personal failings than an indictment of the team.

Once they steamrolled the champion Lakers people stood up and took notice, and no point have the Clippers ever been anywhere near that impressive in any playoff run. Clippers are a joke.

[DMAVS41]

9 times outta 10 the Clippers are losing to the Warriors last season. Once again, it's not impossible, but extremely unlikely. They most likely would've gotten killed.

A contending team should be a team you could see winning a championship at the end of the year and not be shocked by it. Going into the playoffs, the Clippers weren't even expected to get past the 1st round. You would've gotten laughed at if you mentioned anything about a championship.

I don't think it's 10% at all...I was being generous in my opinion with 20%.

You seem incapable of understanding what it means to have a chance vs being the favorite.

Not sure why.

All I see when the Clippers played in the playoffs in 14 and 15 was a team that was on equal footing with the best teams in the league outside of mentally melting down when it matters most.

[DMAVS41]

Get out of here guy, 04 Pistons has a legit argument for greatest defensive team ever, Clippers are NOWHERE near their level. Mavs had Dirk, this one is more legit because people were saying Dirk would never win but that was more due to his prior personal failings than an indictment of the team.

Once they steamrolled the champion Lakers people stood up and took notice, and no point have the Clippers ever been anywhere near that impressive in any playoff run. Clippers are a joke.

Yet they were bigger underdogs going into the finals than the clippers would have been playing the Warriors.

I'm not knocking the 04 Pistons...I'm saying that just because "people would have laughed" about them winning it...doesn't make it true.

This is just so god damn stupid....we just watched them beat the Spurs and the year before were every bit as good as a right Thunder team. Teams capable of doing that don't have "no chance" to get hot and make a run.

[ArbitraryWater]

9 times outta 10 the Clippers are losing to the Warriors last season. Once again, it's not impossible, but extremely unlikely. They most likely would've gotten killed.

A contending team should be a team you could see winning a championship at the end of the year and not be shocked by it. Going into the playoffs, the Clippers weren't even expected to get past the 1st round. You would've gotten laughed at if you mentioned anything about a championship.

Thats because the played the Spurs, co-favorites for the West crown among the Clippers, those 2 teams were expected in the WCF, then a few Spurs fans got pissed over their final regular season loss to the Pels, and having to play the Clips.. so many STILL expected a great series, even with SAS as slight favorites.

Then they beat the Spurs... in smooth fashion too (lost with a decent bit of bad luck in game 5).

And were major favorites against Houston.... nearly sweep them trough 4 games with TWO of those WITHOUT Paul... everybody waits for one hell of an anticipated WCF.... even the Warriors THIS YEAR were heard saying they waited on Los Angeles, looking forward to that series just like the fans...

so no, this is just untrue on your part, or falsely painted.

[Young X]

Can someone explain to me what made the 2015 Clippers contenders? Because I don't get it.

I would've been completely shocked had they actually won the championship.

[DMAVS41]

Can someone explain to me what made the 2015 Clippers contenders? Because I don't get it.

I would've been completely shocked had they actually won the championship.

Having two of the 10 best players in the game is part of it.

Having the best offense is part of it.

Having the 2nd best SRS is part of it.

You say "contenders" like it has to mean only Warriors, Spurs, and Cavs. We all agree with you that the Clippers weren't as good as them going in. Mainly because of their bench and because their defense was likely not going to be good enough.

I would have been shocked as well...but not shocked in a way like I looked at them and said it's virtually impossible for them to get hot and make a run.

But then they beat the Spurs....were clearly way better than the Rockets...and the Cavs had their injuries.

Things can change...

It's also very odd that such a huge fan of Paul puts such strict limits on what his team can accomplish with him leading the way.

[mehyaM24]

Can someone explain to me what made the 2015 Clippers contenders? Because I don't get it.

I would've been completely shocked had they actually won the championship.

aside from the fact they won 1 and almost 2 opening road games against houston, without chris paul?

[Young X]

Thats because the played the Spurs, co-favorites for the West crown among the Clippers, those 2 teams were expected in the WCF, then a few Spurs fans got pissed over their final regular season loss to the Pels, and having to play the Clips.. so many STILL expected a great series, even with SAS as slight favorites.

Then they beat the Spurs... in smooth fashion too (lost with a decent bit of bad luck in game 5).

And were major favorites against Houston.... nearly sweep them trough 4 games with TWO of those WITHOUT Paul... everybody waits for one hell of an anticipated WCF.... even the Warriors THIS YEAR were heard saying they waited on Los Angeles, looking forward to that series just like the fans...

so no, this is just untrue on your part, or falsely painted.

Nothing I said was untrue. The Clippers weren't expected to beat the Spurs. Every single expert predicted the Spurs to win the series (I personally predicted the Clippers to win because I thought they matched up well, which they did).

I didn't hear anybody associate the Clippers with winning the championship going into the playoffs. Their ceiling was the WCF. They were the 5th/6th seed for most of the regular season and completely went under the radar. It wasn't until after they beat the Spurs where people even thought of them like that.

[Heavincent]

East has one real contender and then a bunch of teams that have zero chance at a title.

[ArbitraryWater]

Nothing I said was untrue. The Clippers weren't expected to beat the Spurs. Every single expert predicted the Spurs to win the series (I personally predicted the Clippers to win because I thought they matched up well, which they did).

I didn't hear anybody associate the Clippers with winning the championship going into the playoffs. Their ceiling was the WCF. They were the 5th/6th seed for most of the regular season and completely went under the radar. It wasn't until after they beat the Spurs where people even thought of them like that.

Since when do you blatantly make up stuff??



And they were the 2nd to 3rd seed all year long, not 5-6.........