A Case for the Clips

The Los Angeles Clippers had been injury prone all year, after missing their star Blake Griffin due to hand and foot injury (to go along with suspension), they still find themselves in a good spot after winning game 1 in the first round match-up. The Clips have been a solid team for a good part of 3 years now, could this finally be the year Chris Paul gets to the Western Conference Finals and wins the championship he yearns for?

Even though L.A could roll right past the Blazers in round 1, they will have to face either Golden State or Houston (Most likely Golden State) and that is a tall task. However now with Griffin being back to his prime form, CP3 continuing what he does, and the rest of the team contributing, I can see them going past the Warriors.

While the Warriors are heavy favorites to win it all this year due to their record-setting season, but the Clippers can match up well with them and do have a slight advantage. Here's my match-up chart and who wins each battle:

1. Stephen Curry vs. Chris Paul
2. Klay Thompson vs. J.J Redick
3. Harrison Barnes vs. Jeff Green
4. Draymond Green vs. Blake Griffin 
5. Andrew Bogut vs. DeAndre Jordan
6. Andre Iguodala vs. Jamaal Crawford

Between the first 6 in the rotation, the match-ups are pretty even. Golden State owns the back-court, but the Clippers can dominate them in the front-court. The rest of the bench for both teams may still pose a threat. I do believe that the Warriors have better depth in their bench, but the scoring from the Clippers bench might just even them out. 

Crawford won 6th Man of the Year for a record 3rd time this season

In the end, I think that the Clippers will lose yet again in the second round. But I do think they will take it to 7 games and if they do win that series, then they will have to face many more hurdles. This includes San Antonio, OKC, and possibly the Cavs. It is unfortunate for one of the games best, in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, to miss out on the Finals again, if they do. But can the Clippers bring the city of L.A it's 18th basketball championship? Only time will tell.