They’re in. Again.
With the Utah Jazz’s 104-97 overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs Friday, the Clippers became the eighth team in the NBA to clinch a berth in the 2013 playoffs.
It is the third time in franchise history they have made it to the postseason in back-to-back seasons and their ninth postseason appearance overall. The Clippers (47-22) need any combination of five wins in their next 13 games or five losses by the Golden State Warriors to clinch their first-ever Pacific Division title.The pressure of a tight postseason race is something that Head Coach Vinny Del Negro embraces. “The pressure’s great, I think,” Del Negro said after Friday’s practice. “We want to be in this situation and we have to play good basketball. It depends on how you look at it. Guys have to understand that they’re in a very unique situation and should try to take advantage of it as much as possible. I think it’s good pressure.”“We know it’s going to be a dog fight throughout the rest of the season,” DeAndre Jordan said. “So, we have to take care of business.”
Eric Patten, Clippers.com
If you guys have been following along in the "Around the NBA" thread, you already know that owning the division title gives us an automatic tiebreaker over Memphis and Denver. As a (probable) division champion, we're guaranteed a top 4 seed. Seeding doesn't matter in regards to HCA as it's always due to record. Right now, we're a 1/2 game behind Denver for the 3rd spot and a 1/2 game ahead of Memphis for the 4th spot. It is very important that we at least finish the season tied for 4th as it would mean that we're guaranteed HCA in the first round.
Ultimately, the Clippers just need to take care of business and win so that they control their own seeding destiny. The game against Memphis on April 13th is our 3rd to last game, but could be a huge deciding factor in what awaits us in the first round of the playoffs. The final two games will be against Portland (home) and Sacramento (road).
6 Home / 7 Away
7 non-playoff teams
4 B2B's
4 Game Road Trip (Mavs, Hornets, Spurs & Rockets)
