LA Clippers’ March schedule could be most crucial stretch of the season
The LA Clippers are trying to make a playoff push, and with a mostly favorable slate ahead of them in March, it could be the most important stretch of the year.
They say there’s no place like home, and that sentiment has been especially true for the LA Clippers this season. Despite having one of the best road records in the NBA, the Clippers have been a much more consistent team on their own floor, with just 12 losses there all season. It’s lucky, then, that the Clippers will play just five games away from Los Angeles in the month of March.
The Clippers will begin the month in Sacramento, against a Kings team they’ve yet to lose to this season. That being said, the Kings are definitely a team to worry about — the young squad has plenty of momentum and sits just a game out of the playoff bracket.
From there, the schedule lightens up quite a bit. Beginning March 3, the Clippers will play eight consecutive games in Los Angeles. One of those (March 4 vs Lakers) is technically a road game, but the other seven are all true home games.
During that stretch, the Clippers will play the Knicks, Lakers, Thunder, Celtics, Trail Blazers, Bulls, Nets, and Pacers. As of February 25, those teams have a combined record of 241-242 (.498).
Despite that record being so close to .500, almost none of the teams the Clippers will play have are middle-of-the-road teams (at least record-wise), with the exception of the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers. Instead, they’re all at the end of one spectrum, being rather good or rather awful.
Oddly enough, the Clippers have a combined record of 6-6 against the teams in that stretch as well. With the benefit of home court, though, LA should be expected to win more than half of those contests.
It should also be noted that the game against the Blazers is the second game of a back-to-back, with the first being played against Boston. Portland currently owns the tiebreaker at 2-1, so a win there could be crucial if the Blazers start to slip.
Things get a bit more difficult for LA after the home stretch comes to a close, but that’s mostly because of one team.
On March 22, a four-game road trip will begin against the Cleveland Cavaliers, followed by matchups with the New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Milwaukee Bucks. Cleveland and New York aren’t anything to get worked up about, but the latter two games of the trip should be interesting. The Wolves are tied in the standings with the Lakers right now, and the Bucks are 24-4 since Christmas. Both of those games will be challenging.
After the trip, the Clippers come home for back-to-back games against the Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies. Both teams should be in full-on tank mode by then, so it’s not difficult to imagine LA ending the month riding at least a two-game win streak.
It’s hard to believe, but the LA Clippers will only play four regular season games after the month of March comes to a close — making each game that much more important.
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As long as LA wins the games they should, the playoffs should be within reach. Obviously that’s still a lot to ask, but with hard-nosed competitors like Patrick Beverley, Garrett Temple and Montrezl Harrell on the roster, it would be a shock if the Clippers gave up anytime soon.