The 2019-20 season has felt like a slow march towards the inevitable Clippers-Lakers Western Conference finals, a playoff series that will finally cement the Staples Center neighbors as true rivals.
As scripted as the Battle for Los Angeles is — and on paper, it truly seems destined to end in some epic showdown — the Lakers haven’t seemed like a rival for most of this franchise’s history. The Lakers occupy a different plane of existence than the Clippers, and even four regular-season meetings a year haven’t created the sort of enmity necessary for a true rivalry.