The Clippers are one of the few teams (there are 11 games, so 22 teams in action) not playing on Friday, as their last two games of the season come back to back on Saturday and Sunday. Here’s a quick look at the Clippers’ rooting interests for the games on Friday.
The Games
Rockets vs Hornets: Doesn’t matter, will be tanktastic
Pistons vs Pacers: Doesn’t matter
Heat vs Wizards: Doesn’t matter
Sixers vs Hawks: Doesn’t matter
Raptors vs Celtics: Doesn’t matter
Magic vs Nets: Doesn’t matter
Grizzlies vs Bucks: Doesn’t matter, but should be fun
Knicks vs Pelicans: Bing bong! The Clippers should be rooting for the Knicks here, as another Pelicans loss would make the Clippers finishing ahead of them all but a certainty. Unfortunately, the Knicks are locked into the 5th seed, so they have nothing to play for here, and I’d expect them to rest most if not all of their veterans. The Pelicans, at home, should win this one. But who knows!
Bulls vs Mavs: This one doesn’t *really* matter for the Clippers but I’m rooting for the Bulls anyway. As mentioned previously, I don’t like the Mavs, and a loss here would cinch their not reaching the play-in tournament, which would be delightful. Not a big deal, but would be a nice bonus.
Warriors vs Kings: Well…. it depends. The Warriors losing would help solidify the Clippers’ hold on the 5th seed, but there are reasons for the Clippers to want to avoid that seed. If they can keep pace with the Warriors until the end of the season, they can maneuver in the standings to try to get the matchups they like, while locking into the 5th round would get them aligned with the Suns in the first round and Nuggets in the second. I might actually be rooting for the Warriors in this one. Also, it seems as though the Kings will be resting almost everyone, so the Warriors will probably win regardless.
Suns vs Lakers: The Suns winning would be great. This would fully lock them into the 4 seed, meaning they wouldn’t have anything to play for against the Clippers in the last game of the season. The Lakers’ loss would also mean they could not pass the Clippers in the standings, locking the Clippers into a top 7 seed. Also, the Lakers losing is nearly always something to root for.
Well, that about does it. By the end of the day Friday we should have a very good knowledge into what the Clippers need to do on Saturday and Sunday to secure an optimal playoff spot – 6th – or a sub-optimal but still better than play-in spot at 5th. If the Lakers and Pelicans lose, and the Warriors win, the Clippers should be very well set to get the 5th or 6th seed, and should be able to dance around the standings to get whatever works best for them. If the Lakers, Pelicans, and Warriors win, the pressure will really be on for the Clippers to clean up against the tanking Blazers on Saturday.. and could set up a legitimately important last game of the season against the Suns on Sunday.