Getty Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams.
Heading down the stretch into the 2019 NBA Playoffs, the Los Angeles Clippers are surprisingly still in the hunt for a Western Conference playoff bid. Sitting in eighth place with a four-game lead over the Sacramento Kings, the Clippers are closer to the sixth-seeded Jazz in the standings than they are falling out of the playoffs.
After trading star player Tobias Harris and fan-favorite Boban Marjonovic at the trade deadline, most expected the Clippers were attempting to fade out of the playoff picture and recoup their draft pick (which stay with the Clippers if they wind up in the lottery). Instead, the Clippers have continued their strong play and are making a strong case to not just make the playoffs, but actually, avoid the Warriors or Nuggets in the first round.
Lou Williams has been red-hot recently and the Clippers have played a hard-nosed and physical defense behind the veteran leadership of Patrick Beverly. Montrezl Harrell also offers them a sturdy and aggressive big man not afraid to back down from a challenge. The most impressive part of the Clippers continued success has been the improved development of their young players. After basically stealing Ivica Zubac from the Lakers, he has flourished in a bigger role so far for the Clippers. Landry Shamet and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have also paired up to be an impressive pair of rookies for the Clipper backcourt.
Los Angeles Clippers Schedule
Sitting at 37-29 on the year, the Clippers head into their final 16 games facing opponents with a combined league average strength of schedule according to Tankathon. Most notably the Clippers will face Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers, Houston Rockets, and Boston Celtics. Fortunately, the Clippers offset this by playing the New York Knicks once and the Cleveland Cavaliers twice.
Although they don’t have an easy schedule down the stretch, the Sacramento Kings have the fourth toughest remaining schedule and are the closest team to disrupting the Clippers playoff odds. Sitting four games back heading into Friday night, it would take a major Clipper stumble paired with a big Kings run to close the gap.
Los Angeles Clippers Playoff Predictions
Coming into their matchup on Friday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, FiveThirtyEight’s CARMELO projection gave the Clippers a 98% chance to make the NBA playoffs while FiveThirtyEight’s ELO forecast projected that the Clippers had the same 98% chance.
Respect everyone. Fear no one.
Although the Clippers are in the eighth seed currently, ESPN’s BPI projects that the Clippers will end the season in a tie with the Spurs for the seventh seed with a record of 46-36. The Clippers hold the tiebreaker over the Spurs and would win the seventh seed outright. However, ESPN’s BPI doesn’t give them a great chance to grab the sixth seed, as they are projected to finish three games back of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Unless they mount a big run to end the season, the Clippers will likely be stuck facing one of Denver or Golden State in the first round. Golden State is projected to win the West by a solid three-game margin according to ESPN’s BPI, so assuming the Clippers hold up their end of the projection and win the seventh seed, they will most likely get to take on the Nuggets.
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