L.A. can contain crazy things better than any other city in the country (see: scientology, Gary Busey). Now it must brace for a bizarre basketball imbalance. On Sunday, the two Los Angeles squads squared off for the fourth time this season and for the first time since the team set up shop in L.A., the Clippers swept the Lakers off their shared floor. With the win, which was a franchise-best 51st, the Clippers clinched the Pacific division title, a feat they had yet to accomplish. Before, the only banner at Clippers games was sung, not hung (it was star-spangled). The victory put the Clippers 11 games in front of their long-term tormentors, who through the years have cast a shadow over them more often than Tim Burton has cast Johnny Depp*.
The red-headed step-child is doing it thanks to a red-headed, step-over-you-to-slam, does-commercials-where-he-communicates-with-himself-as-a-child: Blake Griffin. And the reversal of fortune couldn't have happened without the reversal of the trade of Chris Paul, the gold standard of point guards, who was on his way to the purple and gold two years ago, before his Buss route was suspended by the commissioner. The natural-born leader and the natural-born leaper showed there's a second shakeup in L.A. that doesn't involve late-night comedians, as Paul produced 24 points and 12 assists, while Griffin posted 24 points and 12 rebounds. "It means that we're headed in the right direction, but there was no cake, no champagne popping or anything like that in the locker room," the composed Paul commented. Despite the dearth of Dom Perignon and desserts, the Clippers are getting their just deserts - while sticking a dessert fork in the Lakers - and that has to be sweet.
*those were Dark Shadows, to be sure.
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