After reacting to the multiple games on Thursday night, the panel of Inside the NBA proceeded to name the teams that they believed would come out of the West. After Vince Carter’s assessment, Kenny Smith named the three Western Conference frontrunners to play in the NBA. However, once he explained why experience was the differentiating factor between the three teams, Shaquille O’Neal immediately intervened to express his dissatisfaction with the take.
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Kenny Smith revealed how the Los Angeles Clippers, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Denver Nuggets were the three favorites to come out of the West. However, he claimed that Kawhi Leonard and co. had an advantage in terms of experience because of which their chances of winning would improve.
“I mean just you’re looking at it from a championship perspective like who has the all of the assets that you need, one you need you need a great player. You look at the Clippers, OKC, obviously Denver you have (good players). Coaching you know starts narrowing the gap. Then you have experience. When you go to experience that card it only leaves two teams right the Clippers,” Smith explained.
Shaq couldn’t help but interrupt his co-analyst. He simply claimed that the LA side had “no experience”. Trying to refute O’Neal’s claims, The Jet went on to list all the individual successes that the members of the roster have had.
“Yes, they do. Kawhi Leonard has been to the NBA Finals and won. Tyrone Lue has been to the NBA Finals and won. Paul George has been to the Eastern Conference Finals and the Western Conference Finals. These guys have experience. James Harden has been to the Western Conference Finals,” Kenny Smith said.
Shaq disregarded the individual successes and went to name his two picks to come out of West – the Nuggets and the Thunder.
“What’s experience if you don’t win, Kenny? To come out of West I’m going give Denver the respect because they the champs. I like OKC,” the Big Aristotle said.
The Los Angeles Lakers legend is being unreasonable for discrediting the experience factor. Apart from the players of the Clippers having witnessed individual success in their careers, as a group the team also advanced to the Conference Finals in 2021. Additionally, unlike the past several years, the team has been injury-free which could benefit them tremendously in the postseason.
Unlike what Shaquille O’Neal believes, the Los Angeles Clippers are experienced
The Los Angeles Clippers have four of the biggest names in the modern NBA. While Russell Westbrook and James Harden may have never won the title, they did win the coveted Most Valuable Player trophy during the late 2010s and were also responsible for leading the Thunder to the Finals in 2012.
Further, Paul George, who is considered one of the best two-way stars in the league, has been in the finals of both conferences. Finally, Kawhi Leonard has won two championships in his three trips to the Finals.
Apart from the superstars, several role players have also found immense success. Norman Powell and PJ Tucker have won championships with the Toronto Raptors in 2019 and the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, respectively. Whereas, Terance Mann and Ivica Zubac played crucial roles during the Clippers’ run to the 2021 WCF.
Ultimately, Ty Lue has been a winning coach. Apart from the fact that he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to become the first team in NBA Finals history to come back from a 3-1 deficit, Lue is experienced enough to deal with multiple superstars on the same team.
This season, the Los Angeles Clippers have performed exceptionally well. After an awful few weeks since James Harden’s acquisition, the California side found their rhythm. Currently, they are sitting 3rd in the West with a 37-18 record. Placed only two games behind the first seed, there is a huge possibility that Kawhi Leonard and co. manage to grab the #1 seed as they enter the playoffs.
