Kawhi Leonard will reportedly sit out of Wednesday night’s game between the LA Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks. That’s a smart choice by LA.
According to the LA Times’ Andrew Greif, LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard will not play in Wednesday night’s matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks due to load management.
It’s the second game that Leonard will miss this season due to load management, both of which have come on the first night of a back-to-back. His first miss came last week when the Clippers traveled to Salt Lake City for a game against the Utah Jazz. Leonard played in the following game against the San Antonio Spurs, which LA won.
This time, the Clippers’ second opponent will be the Portland Trail Blazers, which is the main reason why having Leonard sit against Milwaukee makes sense.
While Clippers – Bucks would be a huge matchup in terms of star power and score-settling (Leonard eliminated Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s squad 4-2 en route to the NBA Finals last postseason), the game doesn’t matter much as far as standings are concerned — at least, not as much as the Portland game does.
Since the Bucks play in the Eastern Conference, a win wouldn’t do anything for tiebreakers, which take wins over intraconference opponents into account. So while Clippers – Bucks would arguably be more entertaining than Clippers – Blazers when both squads have their star players, LA is making the smart move here by playing the long game.
After all, the Western Conference is stacked to the brim this season, and there’s a good chance that the top teams will be separated by only a few games.
An example might help clear this up. Say the Clippers and Lakers each have 56 wins by the time the season comes to a close. A higher playoff seed could be the difference between having a home-court advantage and not, among other things. That’s where this situation comes into play.
The league’s official tiebreakers are as follows:
- Better record in head-to-head games
- Division winner
- Highest winning percentage within division
- Higher winning percentage in conference games
- Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference
- Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in opposite conference
- Higher point differential between points scored and points allowed
It does take a few things to happen first for Nos. 4 and 5 to kick in, but it could end up being a huge determining factor come time for the postseason, and the Clippers want to give themselves their best shot at the title. That includes playoff positioning.
The tiebreakers for situations involving three or more teams are a bit different, but the intraconference rules still apply, and in the same order.
It may not be the most pleasing decision for fans to stomach (especially for those who have already purchased tickets for tomorrow night’s game), but in the end, it could pay off in a major way.
Of course, the Clippers still have to beat the Blazers for this gamble to pay off in the short-term. Fortunately, according to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, Leonard is expected to play Thursday. And while Portland is no pushover, the Clippers are 5-1 in games that Leonard has played in so far this season.
The LA Clippers will take on the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. PST. Expect Lou Williams, JaMychal Green and Maurice Harkless to have increased roles in Leonard’s absence.