LA Clippers: So What If We Are The Eighth Seed?

With playoff matchups now set in stone, many LA Clippers fans are upset that the team dropped to eighth over the last few weeks. But why?

The LA Clippers will face the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, April 13 at 5:00pm PST. After jockeying for seeding all through the final weeks of the regular season, the Clippers drew the short straw and will be the first to take on the defending champions. Fans, realizing this outcome was more than likely after Houston lost to Oklahoma City on Monday, started to vent their frustration with the team and how they closed out the season.

But so what?

Maybe it’s the optimist in me, but isn’t being even postseason eligible just icing on the cake? Can any of you look me in the eye and say you truly expected this Clippers squad to make the playoffs when the season started? Members of the media certainly couldn’t. If you can, were you still saying the same after we essentially traded Tobias Harris for a rookie and some picks?

I doubt it.

So why now, after such an exciting season, are we upset with making the playoffs? I’m not going to sit here and sugarcoat it; a sweep seems inevitable. Sure, that will suck, but at least there are four more Clippers games we can watch before it’s all said and done.

We also get to watch our stellar rookies, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Landry Shamet, blossom and learn on the biggest stage of their young careers. If these two are truly the future of the franchise, what better way for them to gain postseason experience than by going against arguably the best backcourt in league history? We have already seen so much growth out of both players, especially Shai, so let’s relish the fact that the two will have even more opportunity.

While I’m at it, let’s not harp on the loss to the Lakers last week. None of us saw it coming and had already counted that game as a win when trying to figure out what was what for seeding. In fact, I fell asleep on my couch watching the game and once I woke up and saw the final score, I couldn’t go back to sleep since my mind was churning.

It’s just one loss though. Recency bias is a thing. No, we probably shouldn’t have lost it, even given that key players were missing, but you could argue that for a plethora of the other 33 losses. There are a few that stick out to me, namely that blown 24 point lead in Washington that I was so lucky to be in the stands for. Is that more or less egregious of a loss? You tell me.

There’s obviously truth to the old saying “every game matters”. Had the Clips picked up just one more win somewhere along the way, we would be ahead of the Spurs and facing Denver in the first round. It is what it is.

Brian gets it. This team is special and we get to see more of them while other fanbases have to wait until the fall to watch their squad again.

So, let’s chill out and enjoy the ride.