LA Clippers: Best and worst-case playoff scenarios
By Evan Desai
With three games left, it’s looking like the LA Clippers will snag the third seed for the NBA Postseason.
Basketball Reference gives the squad a 63.8% chance to take that spot.
There’s still a chance that the Clips could grab the second seed (15.5% chance according to Basketball Reference), and even the fourth seed (20.7%), but I see them staying where they’re at right now at number three in the Western Conference.
Regardless, when looking at the possible playoff opponents that the Clippers have, there’s a clear hierarchy in which matchups would be the toughest versus which matchups would be the easiest.
As for the easiest, the Clippers match up very well against the Portland Trail Blazers. They’re even a perfect 3-0 against them during this season.
The biggest issue when it comes to stopping the Trail Blazers in a postseason environment is obviously containing Damian Lillard. It’s a tall task, but the Clippers have done it in their chances this year.
In the three games they’ve played the Blazers, Lillard has played in two.
Lillard couldn’t shoot in either of those games. He was a combined 1-14 from behind the three-point line against the Clippers this year, and 5-28 from the field in general. The Clippers did a superb job in containing him as a scorer.
Lillard’s averaging 7.5 assists per game this year. The Clips held him to just five per game in this 2020-2021 season.
Lillard is averaging almost 30 points per contest on the season, at 28.7 points per game. The Clippers once held him to just 11 points this year.
Lillard’s a different beast when it comes to who he is in clutch situations, and nobody in the entire NBA has earned the right to take him lightly come playoff time, but the Clippers have handled their business against Dame and his squad this year. The currently fifth-seeded Trail Blazers are the preferable playoff matchup at this point.