Observers can never get too comfortable when it comes to the daily trials and tribulations of the LA Clippers. It’s never as bad as it seems when the Clippers suffer unseemly losses. But just when they experience a bit of prosperity, something always happens.
Before arriving in Sacramento on Tuesday, the Clippers were on a critical three-game winning streak. Perhaps with a nod to the upcoming schedule and the importance of finishing the season healthy, the Clippers deactivated All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard due to what the team called “an pain in right knee.”
Without their star, the Clippers fell to the Kings 109-95 and fell to 47-28 on the season. Their chances of moving beyond fourth place in the Western Conference standings are increasingly slim.
Tyronn Lue explains Kawhi Leonard’s knee problem happened Sunday in Charlotte and he’s now in Los Angeles for better treatment pic.twitter.com/QUq59aAScD
– Law Murray 🐦🔥 (@LawMurrayTheNU) April 2, 2024
For all the siren talk about Leonard’s health this season, it was encouraging that the two-time NBA Finals MVP had only missed one consecutive game this season, and that’s when -where Leonard missed the last four games of December due to a left hip. contusion.
But Leonard, who has had to overcome a torn ACL and torn meniscus in his right knee, is now set to miss a second straight game on Thursday, when the Clippers host the Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena. Leonard didn’t even generate a questionable tag before Thursday’s game and has already been ruled out.
This is where things get interesting for the Clippers.
The Clippers’ only road game for the rest of the season is a short flight to complete a back-to-back home-and-home matchup with the Phoenix Suns next week. It would be nice if the Clippers dominated at home, but they’ve been terrible in downtown Los Angeles lately, losing five straight games and trailing by double digits at one point in 10 of their last 12 games at home. residence. They have also not won a home match since March 9 and have more away victories (25-15) than home victories (22-13).
“I think it’s just a matter of being vigilant,” Clippers forward Paul George said in Orlando when asked about the Clippers not playing as well at home. “You understand that you are playing against the opposing team’s crowd and that everyone is against you. And I think outside of the rip, you want to do a good jump. You kind of want to be locked in and focused and alert, all that stuff.
Mathematically, the Clippers are guaranteed no less than the 10th and final Play-In place in the West. With less than two weeks remaining, the Clippers are three games ahead in the loss column against the Pelicans, Kings and New Orleans Suns. for a top-six seed, which guarantees staying out of the Play-In tournament.
The Clippers are trying to hold off the Suns and Kings for the franchise’s first Pacific Division title since 2014, an important accomplishment for tiebreaker purposes. The Kings’ victory Tuesday night kept the Clippers from winning this regular season series, and Los Angeles still needs a win in its two games against the Suns next week to win this regular season series. The Kings and Suns split their season this year, although Phoenix moved from eighth to sixth in the West after beating the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
A trickier task for the Clippers is fending off the Dallas Mavericks and Pelicans, two teams leading the Southwest division. The Clippers have a two-game lead in the loss column over the Mavericks and a 2 1/2-game lead over the Pelicans after the Orlando Magic won at New Orleans on Wednesday; The Pelicans fell to seventh in the West on Thursday, their lowest ranking since February 9.
The Clippers only have one head-to-head tiebreaker against the Mavericks, who they beat in two of three meetings this season (and before Dallas made several trades to improve its talent). The Pelicans have beaten the Clippers in three of four meetings and 11 of 13 times since March 2021.
The Clippers shouldn’t worry too much about the Los Angeles Lakers or Golden State Warriors, the two teams occupying the final two Play-In spots. The Clippers hold a five-game lead in the loss column over the Lakers, which is difficult to make up for with so few games left in the season. The Clippers’ lead over the Warriors is even more assured, with six games in the loss column and the regular season tiebreaker (the Clippers beat the Warriors three out of four games).
But the Lakers, Warriors and 11th-ranked Houston Rockets will all be among the teams intensely pursuing the Clippers, in addition to their own race for Play-In Tournament survival. The Warriors have road games against the Lakers and Rockets; Golden State will travel to Dallas and host the Pelicans; the Lakers will travel to New Orleans; and the Rockets will travel to Dallas before their regular season finale against the Clippers. Houston doesn’t have its first-round pick (although it does have Brooklyn’s, which is higher), so the Rockets are more likely to compete at their full potential than, say, the Utah Jazz.
Ultimately, the Clippers’ top seed will depend on how much they lock in, especially at home. They haven’t shown themselves to be a trustworthy team with Leonard out of the lineup, going 3-4 this season. That doesn’t include the disaster that was the Timberwolves’ home game last month, when Leonard left after one quarter and a 22-point Clippers lead turned into a 22-point deficit .
As a veteran team with championship aspirations, the Clippers will feel pressure from teams chasing them for the rest of the month. They’re also not good enough to think they can pick an opponent they’d rather see. The Clippers will sink or swim, and it will start at home with a head start on the rest of the West trying to pursue them.
“I think when you’re at home you tend to feel like you can get into the game and the crowd is on your side, they’ll give you energy,” George said. “And when you’re on the road, you create that. You create that energy and that environment for your team. So I think that’s how we need to approach being at home. Start with our energy and let our energy on the ground nourish us in some way. But we have to start with this energy to start the matches.
(Kawhi Leonard Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)