I Appreciate What Blake Griffin Was Trying To Do, But The Clippers And Warriors Are Most Definitely Rivals

Blake Griffin on the Warriors: "I wouldn't call this a rivalry. They're the better team. They have the upper hand."

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) November 20, 2015

Two upper echelon teams. Both calling the state of California home. They hate each other on the floor. They bicker at each other off of it. They have a playoff history. They play early November games that have the distinct feel of games that should be played in June. Sure, one team is better than the other, but the inferior team has been one of the only teams that has constantly given the superior a team a run for it's money. If the Clippers and Warriors aren't rivals then the concept of a rivalry doesn't  even exist in the NBA. It doesn't matter that one team has the upper hand. That is true of almost every rivalry. If participants in a rivalry were always even matched then they wouldn't inspire near the amount of hatred between players and fans bases that they do. You can argue whether or not the Warriors were lucky last year (although that only seems like a sillier premise by the day). You can argue whether or not the Clippers pose them a threat in the Western Conference (although that would be a tough sell right about now). You can't argue that the animosity that exists between these two basketball teams is not a rivalry. 

I do, however, appreciate what Blake Griffin was trying to do by saying so. This team needs to be motivated somehow. Judging by the results of the next two games the WiFi signal in the Clippers locker room is pretty weak, because that message did not get sent. However, it's pretty obvious it was meant to make it clear to his teammates that they don't yet deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the Golden State Warriors. While it doesn't mean that the rivalry is dead, the Clippers are nowhere near as good as the Warriors right now. While literally every other team in the league can say the same, it's not something that Clippers thought they would have to say after two early meetings against them. The Clippers organization currently has more question marks than a text convo with a overly obsessive teenage girlfriend, but the one that Blake Griffin chose to answer didn't even need to be asked.