Unknowingly, the penultimate game of this season's NBA regular season has been played, and on the premise that there is only one final game left, only 5 teams in the playoffs (including the play-offs) have locked up the rankings, and the remaining 15 teams are likely to change their rankings after the last game, and the change is not small. Among them, the rankings of the Clippers and Mavericks were only officially determined after the Mavericks lost to the Pistons 89-107 at home.
The Clippers lock up No. 4 in the West!
Since the number of wins between the Clippers and the Mavericks is only 1, in order to ensure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, the Clippers chose to let Harden and George return to win the Jazz at home and lock in 4th place in the West. But it didn't work out, the Mavericks actually took a break in the opening game earlier, and directly took turns to rest Doncic, Irving, and Lively, the main core, and the team's boss and second team took a break together, which also made the Clippers sit on the big gift, and the Mavericks did not have much suspense After losing to the Pistons, the Clippers at the beginning of the game only let Harden and George and others play one quarter, and they have been sitting on the bench to enjoy the easy fourth place in the West, and then the Clippers can prepare for the first round and the Mavericks series with peace of mind.
The Lone Ranger gives up the race for 4th place!
To be honest, from the perspective of the Clippers, they must hope that the Mavericks will fight, which can bring some consumption to the opponent, and the competition between the Pelicans at the beginning, the Clippers seem to have deliberately fallen, so that the Pelicans can see the hope of chasing the 4th place in the West, to consume them, but it is just an accidental injury by Ingram that makes the Pelicans begin to fall behind. However, this time from the position of the Mavericks, doncic and Irving are resting in turn, and completely giving up the competition for the 4th place in the West, which is no problem, after all, the chance of hitting the 4th place in the West is too slim, the Clippers have a little force, and their remaining two opponents, the Jazz and the Rockets, have no resistance, especially the Jazz, they are sent to some development league lineups, and it is very difficult for them to lose if the Clippers play the core.
The Clippers' road to the championship is relatively smooth!
First of all, the Mavericks are the most difficult bone in the second half of the West, their offense and defense are the most balanced, and there are many top superstars who have proven themselves in the seat, balanced inside and outside. In terms of consumption, the Mavericks who have locked up the playoff spots do not need to fight every game like the team behind them, for example, the Pelicans have to fight with the Lakers in order to lock in the 6th place in the West, and the teams behind are waiting for them in the play-offs, in terms of physical consumption, the Mavericks in the 5th place in the West are the closest to the top 4 teams, they can have a complete preparation process, and even if the Clippers break into the semifinals, their most likely opponent is the defending champion Nuggets.
But now the situation is different, the Nuggets actually broke a big upset, the first in the West, 1 lost to the Spurs at the bottom of the West, which made the Nuggets fall directly to the 3rd place in the West, as long as one of the teams in the Thunder and the Timberwolves can win steadily in the end, the Nuggets will not be able to rise to the 1st place in the West, that is to say, ideally, the Clippers want to meet the Nuggets in the playoffs, and there is a high probability that they will have to wait until the Western Conference Finals. However, from the Clippers' point of view, they still have hidden dangers.
Preparing for the first round, the only hidden danger left for the Clippers!
What interior offensive and defensive problems, the team's overall defensive rotation problems, the coach's coaching ability, these can be put aside, the biggest hidden danger of the Clippers at present is Leonard's health, he is so rested, it is absolutely abnormal, even for the preseason preparation for the regular season, the core players have to play for more than ten minutes in the half, find a feeling, adapt to the confrontation, after all, training can not maintain the state, which is completely different from the game. Now the Clippers are preparing for the playoffs, if they can, the team can't let Leonard stay on vacation, miss more than half a month, and then come up directly to play the playoffs, and before the Jazz, Leonard didn't even participate in shooting drills, he just received treatment and did some strength training.
Even if Leonard is completely healthy and does not play before the start of the playoffs, it will also affect the physical competitive state, and it will come up with high intensity, which will put a lot of pressure on his body, especially his knees, and it can be known from the mouth of the president of the Clippers that Leonard has a problem with his knee that has undergone several surgeries, and he is now not comfortable running on the court, when will Leonard come back, and whether he can insist on playing the playoffs after coming back, this is the biggest hidden danger of the Clippers, in the past 3 seasons, Leonard has 2 seasons that have been reimbursed for early injury in the playoffs, and the other season is reimbursed for the whole year, not playing a game, these 3 seasons, the reason for his reimbursement is all knee.