The Clippers have lamented their lack of a home-court advantage since very early in the season.
And with the playoffs a little more than two weeks away, it appears as though nothing has changed.
Blake Griffin joined Chris Paul in going on the record publicly to state the obvious, which is that fans from other teams tend to invade the Staples Center and make their presence felt during Clippers home games against the league’s top teams.
From Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles:“Home-court advantage is just not there for us,” Griffin said after the game. “If that’s how it feels in the playoffs, it’s not looking good.”
Warriors fans made Staples Center sound more like Oracle Arena on Tuesday night. They loudly cheered every made basket by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and chanted “M-V-P” when Curry was at the free throw line, causing several Clippers players to look up into the stands and shake their heads.
“I don’t know what we could do, but it would be great if it wasn’t that way,” said Griffin, who had 40 points in the loss. “It’s kind of like when we play the Lakers. I don’t know, maybe worse. It’s one of those things where it would be great if it wasn’t like that.”
Back in November after losing to the Bulls at home, Paul said “Tonight somewhat felt like a road game. It ain’t no secret. It’s not the first time.”
Los Angeles remains a Lakers town, despite the current level of disparity between the two teams. That’s part of the problem with sharing a city and an arena with one of the league’s most storied franchises, and unfortunately for the Clippers, they’re going to have to overcome this obstacle and find a way to earn success in spite of it for many, many years in order to gain a passionate fan base all their own.
