After blowing their first chance at securing their postseason future, the Clippers are down to their last chance to control who and when they will play their first Play-In Tournament game.
And even then, they are no longer entirely in charge of their own fate.
The Clippers lost to the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night, 116-97, in a critical battle for eighth place in the Western Conference, leaving both teams at 41-40. Portland’s victory evened the teams’ four-game regular-season series and the Blazers’ better conference record gives them the edge to secure the No. 8 seed.
The Clippers, currently the No. 9 seed, now must beat the 10th-seeded Golden State Warriors on Sunday at Intuit Dome and hope for a Portland loss against the Sacramento Kings (22-59) to avoid the longer route to the NBA playoffs.
If the Blazers win, they secure the No. 8 seed and the Clippers will need to win two Play-In games to earn a first-round matchup against the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.
It’s currently trending toward the Clippers hosting the Warriors in 9-vs.-10 elimination game on Wednesday at Intuit Dome. The winner of that would face the loser of the 7-vs.-8 game (Phoenix vs. Portland as it stands now) on Friday for the right to be the eighth seed.
“I mean, we just got to do it the Clippers’ way, the hard way every time. Never easy,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue told reporters in Portland. “We are still in it and we’re OK. And like I said, they (Blazers) beat us. They’re a good team and (interim Portland coach) Tiago (Splitter) has done a hell of a job this season filling in. They played better than us.”
The Clippers erased a 20-point deficit against Portland and took a brief two-point lead in Friday night before running out of steam. The Blazers used a 25-3 run in the fourth quarter to finish them off.
Despite the finish, Lue said the Clippers showed resilience and character against Portland, traits they need against the Warriors, who could have four-time NBA champion Steph Curry back in the lineup. Curry recently returned after missing 27 games because of a knee injury but seemingly twisted his ankle in a loss to the Kings on Friday.
“We just got to go back to the drawing board, get ready for Sunday and then into the Play-In knowing we (might) have to win two games,” Lue said of the regular-season finale and their first postseason game.
“We’ve been worse, trust me. We’ve been worse. Starting 6-21 and getting to the place where we’re at right now, we can’t hang our head,” Lue added. “I thought we gave the fight we needed to give. We just can’t dig ourselves into those bigger holes, especially against a good team on the road.”
Lue played his starters heavy minutes against Portland. Kawhi Leonard scored 24 points in 38 minutes, Darius Garland played 41 minutes and center Brook Lopez was on the floor for 37 minutes. Yet, the coach doesn’t plan to rest any of them against the Warriors and save them for their first Play-In game Tuesday or Wednesday.
“When you fight back, take the lead by two, like you said, you’re probably exhausted at that point, just trying to get back in the game. But it’s nothing to hang our heads about. They kicked our butt and now we got to be ready to go on Sunday,” Lue said.
WARRIORS AT CLIPPERS
When: Sunday, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Intuit Dome
TV/radio: FDSN SoCal, KTLA (Ch. 5)/570 AM
