With playoff seeding still up in the air, let’s take a look at what has to happen for the LA Clippers to get their ideal playoff seeding.
Only three games remain in the schedule, but we still have no idea who the LA Clippers will be facing in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs. A loss last night to the Houston Rockets has the Clips currently sitting in the sixth seed at 47-32, which would mean a date with Houston in the first round.
That’s not ideal. What is?
In this writer’s opinion, the best possible case for the Clippers would be for the team to remain the sixth seed, but to have the Trail Blazers pass the Rockets for third place. Assuming all other things stand as they are, this would mean a matchup with the Blazers in the first round, followed by a second round series against the winner of the second and seventh seed match-up, which is the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Staying in sixth place also means LA would not have to worry about facing the Warriors until the Western Conference Finals, assuming both teams make it that far. (The Warriors will, the Clippers….eh?)
A lot has to happen for this scenario to play out, so let’s take a look at the simplest path. Tiebreakers could come into affect, so make sure you familiarize yourself with how those are determined.
There will be a lot of conjecture going forward, so bare with me. I have no idea how the next week will play out, so all I can do is look at the schedule and make assumptions to my best ability. (We all know what happens when you assume though!)
Let’s start with what we can expect from LA over their final three games.