A fitting occasion: The Clippers dampen Dallas’ pursuit of the no.5 seed in the West.
Two days ago, the Dallas Mavericks controlled their own destiny to the no.5 seed in the Western Conference, and had Karl-Anthony Towns and his game winning jumper to thank for it: all they had to do was win the remaining games on their regular season schedule.
That didn’t happen, and you have the Clippers to thank for it after a 98-91 win in favor of Los Angeles over Dallas, and despite 21 points from Raymond Felton — J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford led the Clippers with 20+ points scored (Redick – 20, Crawford – 22) — Los Angeles has almost put an end to any chance they had at claiming the no.5 seed (one more loss for Dallas will do the trick) and setting up a “hey, remember what DeAndre Jordan did to us in the offseason!” series between themselves and the Clippers.
With that being the case, the bottom half of the Western Conference looks as such:
5) Portland Trail Blazers: 43-28
6) Memphis Grizzlies: 42-38
7) Dallas Mavericks: 41-39
8) Utah Jazz: 40-40
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9) Houston Rockets: 39-41 (Utah’s the better team as of now but I wouldn’t count Houston out as of yet)
Dim, but per Matt Moore of CBS Sports, Dallas still has a chance at the five spot:
@Trisity_ actually sorry, Dallas has tiebreaker, so if Portland loses out, Mavs win out, Memphis wins out, Dallas gets five.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) April 11, 2016
With Denver being Portland’s final game of the season, unless Terry Stotts enters this matchup with rest on his mind (he won’t) it’s hard to see his group dropping this game. That factor puts into perspective what the trailing teams (in standings) have to fight i.e. getting the no.6 seed.
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Memphis, they’ve still a puncher’s chance but it’d take both a Portland loss and the Grizzlies winning out (@ LAC, @ GSW) to clinch no.6. The Clippers could sit its starters, though that guarantees nothing. But even if Memphis gets the LA win, standing in it’s way will be a Warriors team looking to break to all-time NBA record for most wins in the season with 73. Two games ago the Grizzlies gave the Warriors a fight. The same happening with a different outcome on Golden State’s homecourt? Fatigue and all, it’s just hard to see the Warriors, a 70+ win team, losing to this iteration of the Grizzlies with so much on the line.
Moral of this post? If you’re a Clippers fan and you want an easy route for your team, you’re a Grizzlies/Mavericks/Nuggets fan until the season end and hope the named scenario by Matt plays out. There’s history between the Clippers and Griz/Mavs but both teams are too injured (no Conley/Gasol in Memphis; no Parsons in Dallas) for it to matter.
If your hope lies in playoff entertainment, it’s Portland who you should root for, as Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum surely won’t disappoint in a potential 7-game series against Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Chris Paul — will the series be long? Not sure, but fun is almost a guarantee.
Next: Clippers endorse Jamal Crawford for 6MOY
We’ll continue to update on the 5-seed race in the West until it’s locked up, and when that occurs, the bombarding of playoff write-ups (matchups, x-factors, the usual) will commence.