LeBron James and Stephen Curry go to the Play-In.
When the Phoenix Suns defeated a shorthanded Clippers team on Wednesday (LA rested their Big Three), it meant that the Lakers and Warriors could no longer catch the Phoenix (who are currently No. 7 in the rankings), nor could they overtake the current No. 6, New Orleans. , which means that both historic franchises are heading to the Play-In and will have to earn their place in the playoffs proper.
“If it wasn’t for this year’s Play-In, we wouldn’t just be out of stuff. So I liked it before when it didn’t benefit us, but I really like it now,” Steve Kerr said before his team beat the Lakers on Tuesday night.
Both teams’ seedings for the Play-In remain up in the air, but if it started today, the 9th-seeded Lakers and 10th-seeded Warriors would meet in the first Play-In game – the loser goes home. The season is over. The winner of that first game would then have to win a second game (against the loser of Phoenix/Sacramento) to enter as the No. 8 seed (and likely face Denver in the first round, who are in command of the No. 1 seed after beating Minnesota on Wednesday).
Both the Warriors and Lakers would like to move up to No. 8 — where they would have to win one of two games to make the playoffs and could get No. 7 and avoid the Nuggets in the first round — but they will need some help from the Stumbling Kings. Sacramento is a half-game ahead of the Lakers and a game ahead of the Warriors, and holds the tiebreaker over both, meaning Los Angeles and Golden State need the Kings to lose at least two (if not all three) of their upcoming games. The Kings host the Pelicans and the Suns (two teams still competing for the standings) and close the season on Sunday against the Trail Blazers.
If the Warriors close with three wins – at Portland, then at home to New Orleans and Utah – they would pass the Lakers as the ninth seed (the Warriors own the tiebreaker) and host a 9/10 game. Golden State at least has that control over its future. The Lakers finish the season in Memphis and New Orleans.
The Lakers were in the Play-In a season ago, but as the seventh seed, defeating Minnesota in overtime to advance as the seventh seed. From there, they defeated a shorthanded Grizzlies team (no Ja Morant or Steven Adams) and then these Golden State Warriors to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
Another playoff matchup is set: the 4th-place Clippers and 5th-place Mavericks will meet in an epic first-round showdown.
It will be the third meeting in five years between these teams in the playoffs. In 2021, Dallas won the first two games and seemed to be in control – many fans seem to remember the Mavericks winning that series for some reason. However, the Clippers came back to win four of their next five games, including a Game 7 behind Kawhi Leonard’s 28 points, and it was Los Angeles who advanced. Luka Doncic averaged 35.7 points, 10.3 assists and 7.9 assists per game in that series.
In 2020, in the bubble, the Clippers beat the Mavericks in six games behind a dominant run from Leonard, who averaged 32.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
If Kawhi Leonard returns healthy, this will be a can’t-miss first-round series.
