The Battle of L.A.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- So whose town is it anyways?

Wednesday, January 25, 2012. It was a strange sight, as the sellout home crowd of 18,997 fans inside the Staples Center in Los Angeles (home of both the L.A. Lakers and L.A. Clippers) both cheered and booed their home teams. With a minute to go, the Lakers led the Clippers by two points and the Clippers had possession. Whatever happened from here, Los Angeles would win and Los Angeles would lose. But which side of the city would rule the turf tonight?

LA, for all intents and purposes, is a basketball city. The streets are full of people in NBA apparel, the sports conversations usually revolve around hoops, and the die-hard fans wear their loyalty close to their hearts. Basketball is so big that the city caters to two professional teams, both of which call the same glittering same arena – the Staples Center – their home.

But the stories of these two teams are drastically different from each other. Since their shift from Minneapolis in 1960, the Lakers have been as synchronous with Los Angeles as popcorn with Hollywood. The franchise has won 11 titles in LA, and overseen the eras of some of the game’s biggest stars, from Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and all the way to Shaq and Kobe. For the last 17 years, the Lakers have shared their turf with the Clippers, a franchise riddled with bad luck, bad choices, and plain old bad play. While the Lakers soared to gather championship seasons and fans from all over the world, the Clippers made the playoffs only four times in 17 years in LA, never getting past the second round of the playoffs and always remaining a humorous footnote in the city’s hoops history.

But this year, all of that threatens to change. The Lakers suffered a humbling playoff sweep in the last playoffs, as their two central cogs – Kobe and Gasol – began to show their age, they lost Lamar Odom to the Mavericks, questions remained about how injury-free their young star Andrew Bynum could stay, trade rumours spiraled all about Gasol and Bynum leaving town and their former bad-boy Ron Artest reinvented himself as nice-guy (and mostly harmless) Metta World Peace. Down the hall from the Lakers’ locker room, separated by just a couple of large curtains, are the Clippers, for whom, this season is all about youth and optimism. They boast one of the NBA’s most explosive young players in Blake Griffin, have a serviceable center in DeAndre Jordan, added two wily veterans in the off-season in the form of Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler, and swooped in to trade for Chris Paul – one of the NBA’s best point guards – from right under the Lakers’ noses.

All of a sudden, the two teams could look each other eye to eye on equal terms. The little brothers weren’t so little anymore.

On Jan. 14, the two teams played for the first time in the regular season, and the Clippers showed that they could be better than their big brothers by beating them 102-94. 11 nights later, and the two faced off again. The Clippers (9-5) were proving that they were here to stay, and even sat above the Lakers (10-8) in the Western Conference.

But no matter the early record, off the court, LA is still Laker-land. For about a decade, Kobe Bryant has been Los Angeles’ favourite athlete. And no matter his age or the rise of the Clippers, this is still Kobe’s town. Kobe is still the NBA’s leading scorer this year, but he also remains one of the most divisive. Some say he shoots too much, some ask him to keep shooting. But in LA, the popular consensus is clearly on his side. Nine of out of every 10 jerseys are a ‘Lakers 24’, and when they’re not, they’re most likely to be a Gasol, ‘Lakers 16’. In a town dominated by the Lakers’ purple-and-gold, the Clippers' red-and-white colours are just trying to jostle for space, inviting fans to “join the rise”.

Back to the game on Wednesday night: although the Staples Center is the home floor to both sides, this was technically a home game to the Lakers, which meant that Laker season ticket holders and fans filled the majority of the arena. The confusion of LA vs. LA – both franchises exciting at the same time for the first time ever – led to an interesting atmosphere in the arena. Laker fans in their cheers for their team and their boos for the Clippers showed that this was still their floor, but there were enough ‘away’ fans, who in their diminutive voices, were a faint reminder that there really were many who were ready to join Griffin and Paul’s ‘rise'

Tip off: And the Clippers took control. We aren’t your little brothers anymore. This is our turf, now. The Clippers led most of the way behind great play by Griffin, Paul, and Butler. Griffin amazed the crowd with gravity-defying dunks. Even those who booed him got off their feet and exclaimed when he wowed them.

But the wily old Lakers weren’t going away soon. A night after complaining that he and Andrew Bynum weren’t getting enough touches to prove themselves, Pau Gasol changed his mentality and backed his words with his actions. Gasol dominated the post with toughness, and between him, Kobe, and Bynum, the Lakers showed a balance rarely seen in their side this season.

The Clippers held on to a small lead throughout the game, showing more than anything that they weren’t afraid of the Lakers anymore. But the Lakers showed resilience and toughness to make comebacks and literally fight back as the game became chippy. Between Kobe, Gasol, World Peace, Griffin, Paul, and the others, there were a lot of hard fouls, altercations, and a few technicals. The crowd got into the intense atmosphere: it felt like a playoff game. A game which won’t just affect their standings in the Pacific Division, but will also see the Los Angeles supremacy at stake.

And with the Lakers trailing by three in the fourth quarter, a very familiar face took over. Kobe Bryant showed the world why the Los Angeles fans have been enamoured by him all these years: Kobe scored 12 points in the final period, shifting from scorer to creator back and forth as required. Andrew Bynum made tough plays on both ends of the court, Metta World Peace played his best defense of the season, and a huge three-pointer by World Peace gave the Lakers the lead and their fans off their seats.

When the dust settled in this unforgettable game, the Lakers had come back to 97-92. Griffin had 26 points and 9 rebounds for the Clippers, while Lakers were led by Kobe (24), Gasol (23 points 10 rebounds), and Bynum (19). A new rivalry was about to be born: and Chris Paul and Pau Gasol had some parting words and gestures for each other.

Postgame, the Lakers' two satisfied leaders Kobe and Gasol both admitted that this was an important game for them, but Kobe brushed off any mentions of a rivalry. “This isn’t a rivalry. Rivalries are made in playoffs,” he said, “But there is definitely some good basketball being played.”

Some great basketball, actually. And no matter what side of LA you root for – the purple and gold or the red and white – you can be sure that the intense electricity, both on and off the court, is going to continue. The Lakers won the battle on Wednesday night, but the war was only just beginning.