With so much hype surrounding LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, it's almost easy to forget they may not even be the best team in town.
The Los Angeles Clippers were booed in their own city after using a 22-0 second-half run to beat the rival Lakers 118-107, and reserve center Montrezl Harrell enjoyed every second of it.
"I love it," Harrell said, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "Because they already don't recognize us as a so-called L.A. team, but we don't really care about that. But we want y'all to know that we're the L.A. Clippers. That means Los Angeles Clippers, man. So there's two teams in L.A.
"Y'all try to overlook us, just because of everybody in that purple and gold and the history of it. Yeah, I respect that. But that don't mean s--- to me. Excuse my French - that don't mean nothing to me. I come out here and play for the guys that I am on the floor with. At the end of the day, y'all gonna have to recognize us, man. We are going to make you understand who we are."
The Lakers have raised several banners since the Clippers relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles in 1984, winning eight of their 16 championships during that span. The Clippers, however, have reached the postseason just 10 times and have never played in the Western Conference finals.
Nonetheless, recent memory favors the Clippers as they've finished above .500 in seven straight seasons and made six playoff appearances over that time. The Lakers, meanwhile, have cracked the 30-win mark just once in the last five years and have suffered their worst postseason drought in franchise history.
The Clippers (21-14) currently sit 1.5 games ahead of the Lakers (20-16) in the competitive Western Conference.
