LA Clippers: Dallas Mavericks are officially 1st round match-up

The LA Clippers will face the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs.

The LA Clippers are officially locked into the second seed in the Western Conference. After Wednesday night’s win versus the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers secured their spot and it was guaranteed they would face the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs.

We talked earlier in the season (prior to the pandemic) about how the Mavericks were the preferred match-up in the first round out of all possibilities and we were lucky enough to draw them.

In short, the Clippers are one of the few teams equipped to defend Luka Doncic. With Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Patrick Beverley all likely getting minutes against him, LA can almost neutralize their best player. Of course, I use “neutralize” lightly. In the three games between these two squads this season, Luka scored 22, 36, and 29 points respectively. Still, the three will make the game difficult for him.

It’s on the other end that the Clippers will really shine. Dallas has a historically great offense but their defense is severely lacking. No one on their roster will be able to contain the Clippers’ scoring attack, especially now that we know Montrezl Harrell is back in the bubble and will be making his Orlando return in game one. We will discuss more on that in our longer preview, dropping before the series starts.

As far as first-round match-ups go, things look pretty solid for the Clippers. In fact, their whole side of the bracket worked out in the Clippers’ favor. Obviously no playoff team is a pushover, especially in the West, but given relative match-ups, the Clippers could have done a lot worse.

The first game of round one for the LA Clippers happens on Monday night at 9:00 PM EST/6:00 PM PST on TNT. In the days leading up to the game, make sure to keep checking back here for all your round one coverage as the Clippers finally begin the playoffs in search of their first-ever NBA title.