As a Lakers fan, I hope that this year's Lakers and Clippers will have a real playoff round.
Because since they gathered in Los Angeles at the same time in 2019, even if the Lakers have won the championship, this group of matchups that are considered to be entangled in "new hatred and old grudges" has never been fulfilled.
As an NBA fan, I really want every team that makes the playoffs to be full and staffed. Because the absence of any star or important member will immediately make the original full of matches lose their taste.
As an NBA creator, I'm looking forward to how far the Los Angeles Clippers can go after gradual commissioning. After all, they are the team with the thickest squad in this league, with both superstar pressure and no obvious shortcomings.
However, all this, once again with the fall of Paul George, seems to have come to an end.
No matter which team you're a fan of, you'll have to sigh at the PG-13 (George's nickname) career.
Few people remember that Paul George was probably the first tailor-made opponent LeBron James faced.
When James completed his second MVP in 2010, any team in the league with a championship idea, especially in the East, would have to figure out how to face this nearly perfect combination of power, speed, and technology.
So in that year's draft, the Indiana Pacers still took Paul George from Greater Fresno University in the first round with the 10th pick in the first round even though they already had All-Star small forward Danny Granger.
At that time, the general manager of the Pacers was "Big Bird" Larry Bird, and being seen by the "NBA Forcing King" who was above the top already showed his potential and strength.
However, Granger's injuries and stop-and-go gave George a faster upside, and in the first four years of his career, he almost made a footprint a year, evolving from Granger's deputy, a single defender against LeBron, to the most well-rounded small forward in the East at that time besides LeBron.
During LeBron's years with the Heat, the Paul George-led Pacers have been their biggest foe in the East.
Not only were they able to match the invincible "Janway Connection" on the lineup at that time, but they also had Hibbert on the inside to hit the Heat's fragile penalty area.
And the logical basis of all this is that the Pacers outside led by Paul George is worthy of the horror combination of LeBron and Wade.
In fact, they did a really good job.
2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals 2-4,
2013 East Final 3-4,
2014 East Final 2-4.
During LeBron's eight-game Eastern Conference winning streak, no team could take that many wins in front of him.
In the summer of 2014, LeBron left the Heat, and the Pacers collapsed. But this time not because of LeBron, but because of Paul George's big injury.
It was a scene that now seems scary to look back on pictures, his right calf was broken 90 degrees like sugar cane, and it took him a full year to return to the ring.
But the Eastern powerhouse that once competed Miami is gone.
And Paul George himself has changed from a flying buckle who was once able to step past LeBron, Birdman, and perform a 360-degree windmill in the regular season, to a flying buckle who relies more on projection and footsteps to "rub" your floor flow.
Before the injury, his template was Maddie,
After his injury, his template became Paul Pierce.
A few years after recovering from injury, he returned to an all-round level of 24+7+4 per game with the Pacers, but the team was far from the top ranks in the East.
So he went to Russian City, where he played his best season with Wei Shao.
In the Thunder, Wei Shao, who just won the MVP, is still a real "triple-double macho", he doesn't need George to worry about organizing offense and tandem teams, doing his own thing, and then finishing off.
So in 2018-19, George had 28.0 points, 8.2 boards and 4.1 assists, plus 2.2 steals for the league first. The league's double-first, All-Star, and MVP finished third.
With Wilson beside Wilson, George played one of the best regular season games of his career.
This is also an important reason why he strongly asked the Clippers to accept Wei Shao this year.
In 2019, he and Leonard joined the Clippers together, and the two Los Angeles natives finally chose to become opponents of the Lakers.
No one believes that they are really "children's boat dreams", and the reason why they become Lakers' opponents is only because LeBron James, each other's biggest enemy, has sat in the Lakers, and they don't want to be LeBron's "Wade or Irving" anymore, they all want to take this opportunity to completely pull the emperor down.
In 13-14 years, Paul George and Leonard happened to be the opponents of LeBron's Eastern Final and the Finals, and their fame and prestige were precisely because of the confrontation with LeBron.
They went back to Los Angeles.
They have one of the most generous and wealthy bosses in the league.
They have the ability to think and trust each other,
There is a complete lineup built by the management with great money,
Their goal is to replace the fallen warriors and become the new lords of the west.
However, the richest boss Ballmer, the most astute manager West, and the peppers duo, known as "Jordan & Pippen of the modern day", are still no match for the Clippers' curse.
As one of the NBA's most unsuccessful and unlucky teams, or even one of them, the Los Angeles Clippers have always played the role of the league's most unsuccessful team, and unspeakable doom will always haunt the most unpopular team in Los Angeles.
Whether it's strongmen like Bill Wharton, Chris Paul, Elton Brand, or champions like Griffin, Manning, and Olovokandi.
At the Los Angeles Clippers, there are always surprises that keep them from achieving anything.
So, with the Clippers leading 3-1 in the Western Conference semifinals in the 19-20 season, the team blew itself up and was overturned by the Nuggets, and head coach Rivers was ousted.
Tyronn Lue, who is also a champion coach, was brought in, but the situation still did not improve.
In the 20-21 season, Leonard was reimbursed for the fourth season game of the Western Conference semifinals, and George desperately took it to the Western Conference finals and was taken out by the Suns 4-2.
In the 21-22 season, the team managed to finish eighth in the West without Leonard, then lost to the Timberwolves, and then on the eve of the battle for the last ticket with the Pelicans, George "turned into a sun", and the team went home fishing after two consecutive losses.
This season, it is hard to wait for Leonard's return, and the well-staffed Clippers have always been the favorites in people's minds. Even if Wei Shao lost five consecutive games after joining him, he still quickly adjusted with his deep lineup advantage, and in a blink of an eye, it was another four consecutive victories.
Just when people were thinking they would be the most feared team in the West and really expected to reach the Finals this year, George was injured again.
Where Leonard's single-core Clippers will go next, everyone has to draw a question mark in their minds.
But first, let's wish Paul George a speedy recovery.