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Rivers: 'No problem' with Durant on Warriors, Clippers 'match up well'
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Thursday, July 28, 2016 - 12:15pm
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Editor's note: The above video is from March 23.

The Warriors (10/13 odds) are the overwhelming favorites to win the championship next season.

The Clippers (25/1) boast the fifth best odds.

"They should be the favorite ... Golden State -- you're the favorite," Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said on The Vertical Podcast. "That's fine. But we're gonna play you. And we're looking forward to the challenge.

"I think the whole league is -- very similar to the Miami situation in their first year, which they did not win the first year. We'll see how that goes."

[RELATED: Rivers: Clippers placed third with Durant, who chose 'safer place']

When LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh joined forces with the Heat in July 2010, Miami was coming off a 47-35 campaign and a first round loss in the playoffs.

In 2010-11, the Heat went 58-24 and lost to the Mavericks in six games in the NBA Finals.

The Warriors won the championship in 2015, and won 73 games last year before falling to the Cavs in Game 7 of the Finals.

Golden State added Kevin Durant -- the 2014 MVP, who is widely considered one of the Top 3 players in the league -- and many in the basketball world believe the Warriors are the new "villains" of the NBA.

[POOLE: After major changes, depth still a strength for Warriors]

"I have no problem with it. I really don't. I have no problem with it," Rivers said. "There are no guarantees of winning. They did give up a lot, too. Maybe not in star power. But they lost size, they lost their bench...

"They did add players and they'll be able to keep adding players because they're so good."

In 2014, when Mark Jackson was the Warriors' head coach and the team was without Andrew Bogut, the Clippers beat Golden State in Game 7 in their opening round playoff series.

In 2015, it would have been Warriors-Clippers in the Western Conference Finals, but Los Angeles blew a 3-1 series lead against the Rockets in the semifinals.

Last year, it would have been Warriors-Clippers in the Western Conference Semifinals, but Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were lost for the season in Game 4 against Portland, and the Blazers won the series in six games.

"We play 'em well. We match up well to 'em," Rivers said. "But they've beaten us. We're the last team to beat them in the playoffs. That's the one thing we do know.

"And we haven't played them in the playoffs since we beat them. We've blown our opportunities to get to 'em. Two years ago against Houston. We were looking at that series against Golden State knowing we are the last team to beat 'em. We didn't get the opportunity.

"And give them credit, they've beaten us. But we match up well, we play well against them. So we are looking forward to the challenge."

The Warriors took three of four regular season matchups against the Clippers two years ago, and swept all four meetings last season.

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