LeBron James and Dwyane Wade’s partnership in Miami eventually led to two NBA championships. However, the things these two were doing to opposing teams on the floor, that too in such a ruthless manner had the entire league shaken to their core. But did you know it was the ‘Lob-City’ Clippers that inspired the two Heat stars?
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When Jamal Crawford appeared on the Run Your Race, he talked about the impact of that Los Angeles Clippers roster.
“Our team was so special, it was one of the shows of the league. I remember times LeBron was tweeting about it to D-Wade like, ‘Oh, we gotta do that live’.”
The early 2010’s Clippers roster was assembled to win a championship. Though the squad did come close, unfortunately, they never got over the hump.
LA had just drafted Blake Griffin who was redefining poster dunks in the league. DeAndre Jordan followed suit with his unreal strength paired with his athleticism.
So, the squad already had two high-flying bigmen. To make matters worse for the rest of the league, the Clippers donned Point God, Chris Paul, at the one spot who would throw perfect lob passes to either of them.
Crawford himself was an absolute wizard with the ball in his hands that gave the Clippers a reliable backup to CP3. And the cherry on top was the Duke sharpshooter, JJ Redick at the shooting guard spot.
“You have Blake and DJ in the air put on the show and you had Chris and myself on the ground put on the show. You had Sniper so it was almost like especially with me and C we never talked about this but I could just tell cuz we’re both competitors…”
But as Jamal said, the Clippers were one of the main attractions of the league in the early 2010s. And what made that squad so entertaining was the friendly competition between Paul and Crawford.
The former Sixth Man of the Year described his tenure with CP3 and how the two would constantly try to one-up one another. But it was always in good spirits and according to Crawford, that kept them sharp on the court every single night.
The downfall of the Lob-City Clippers
As entertaining as the Lob-City Clippers were, the team meant business as well. The high-flying squad made the playoffs almost every year and even took down the powerhouse of the West, the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2015 playoffs.
But it was the internal riff between players that eventually led to that promising team’s downfall. According to former Clippers player Dahntay Jones, the difference in personalities played a big role in why the ‘Lob-City’ Clippers couldn’t go all the way.
“From the door, it’s just what you see is the conflict of personalities…CP-Blake, they were all playing well but you could see the rift in personalities. DeAndre and Blake…They were on one side and CP was on the other side and it just didn’t mix.”
Eventually, the front office pulled the plug on that roster and traded away their assets to go into rebuilding mode. And the ‘Lob-City’ Clippers went down as not the most lethal but one of the most entertaining teams to watch in recent NBA history.
