Who Would You Rather Face In The 1st Round?

[Wammy Giveaway]

Some facts about the Clipper's playoff history, and their opponents:

- Utah Jazz has something of a God complex. The first time they drew the Clippers back in 1991 under the Stockton-Malone dynamic duo, winning the series in 5, they reached the conference finals for the first time in franchise history. When they drew them again in 1997, this time with a sweep, Utah reached the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. When they re-matched in 2017, they ended the Paul-Griffin duo after 7 games.

- Everyone seems to believe that the Mavericks are the easiest opponent for the Clippers just because they've won the season series. Don't get too confident - have a look at this table below:

1991: Jazz (1-3, 1st round, loss)
1992: Rockets (0-4, 1st round, loss)
1997: Jazz (1-3, 1st round, loss)
2006: Nuggets (3-1, 1st round, win) || Suns (2-2, 2nd round, loss)
2012: Grizzlies (2-1, 1st round, win) || Spurs (1-2, 2nd round, loss)
2013: Grizzlies (3-1, 1st round, loss)
2014: Warriors (2-2, 1st round, win) || Thunder (2-2, 2nd round, loss)
2015: Spurs (2-2, 1st round, win) || Rockets (2-2, 2nd round, loss)
2016: Trailblazers (3-1, 1st round, loss)
2017: Jazz (3-1, 1st round, loss)
2019: Warriors (1-3, 1st round, loss)

When the opponent you draw is the team you won the season series against, it's expected that you advance. Yeah, all those upsets were due to injury (Griffin primarily), but because of that resume, people are quick to believe that somebody else can pick up the slack to ensure the playoff result matches with what happened in the regular season. And to think, this kind of thing only happened with Lob City; not the Danny Manning era, not the Brand-Cassell one-season wonder, not even the Revenge Of The Role Players. If the Clippers want to avoid repeating Lob City's playoff blunders, they must be candles, bright and always burning, not light switches that you can flip on and off whenever you want to.

- Like I said in a previous post, drawing the Thunder would be the ultimate Clipper test. Chris Paul made the Clippers relevant, until the 3-1 collapse and DeAndre's Maverick decision tarnished their chemistry - he sees them as the reason why his legacy is tarnished and would love to get sweet revenge on them. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was going to be their new face of the franchise, until Kawhi Leonard landed on their laps and vowed to join them if and only if they gave him up for superstar Paul George. Did they make the right decision? A win vs. Thunder proves yes, a loss would make this the greatest upset in Jerry West's career, which could signal the end of Doc Rivers.

Who would you rather face in the playoffs?

[SK21209]

I think it's the Jazz for me, with Bogdanovic out and the weird Mitchell/Gobert chemistry stuff they seem like a team ready to mail it in if they lose the first game or two. We seem to match up pretty well against the Mavs but Luka + a really good offense makes me nervous. I like the matchup with the Thunder too but Iosing to a team full of ex Clippers just seems like something that would happen to us.

[NippySudz]

mavericks. we have had their number all year.

[Roscoe Sheed]

We’ll see what happens vs the mavs. They’ve looked good against them in all 3 games. It helps that the mavs are poor defensively.

Utah would have been dangerous even without Bogdanovic. Conley plays great against the clippers as does ingles- seems he still wants revenge for getting cut. Gobert is a great rim protector and Mitchell is unstoppable when he really gets it going.

okc would have been tricky because of the aforementioned high number of former clippers on the team. You never know how badly they’d want to prove a point.

[Roscoe Sheed]

One thing I am concerned about is Carlisle out coaching Doc. Carlisle is a great coach and I fear Doc could cause problems with his periodic head scratching decisions- particularly rotation wise

[esqtvd]

badass R us

[NippySudz]

One thing I am concerned about is Carlisle out coaching Doc. Carlisle is a great coach and I fear Doc could cause problems with his periodic head scratching decisions- particularly rotation wise

I'd be more worried about denver in teh second round now that MPJ is in their starting lineup.

[esqtvd]

Anybody catch PG's interview?

Yes, they did it for the money--next year's salary cap would collapse otherwise--but the players also did it because this is one of the most competitive seasons leaguewide in decades.

If this were during the Michael Jordan or LeBron or GSW dynasties, I think the NBA players would have just said screw it, let's start up again in the fall. But even though the Lakers, Clippers and Bucks are favored, there are a lot of VERY good teams out there who love playing together and didn't want to see it end.

This bubble thing is very special, and if you listen to the players, they've come to love it too. All basketball, 24/7. No family or agents or business deals or commercial shoots. Just hoop. Nothing but your crew and the game tomorrow.

No asterisk on this one. This will be the purest championship ever won. No home crowd advantage, not even with the refs. Pure ball, no distractions. The best team WILL win.

[Forte IV]

Clips lost to the Jazz 3-2 back in 92

[esqtvd]

Clips lost to the Jazz 3-2 back in 92

the Rodney King Bowl

[Roscoe Sheed]

If I would have known Conley was going to leave the bubble, perhaps I would have selected Utah. He seems to always play great against the Clippers. Otherwise I would vote for the Mavs because they seem to have controlled them quite well in regular season games. However, besides obviously being concerned about Doncic's brilliance, I'm worried about Carlisle out-coaching Doc- he is an offensive wizard. Also, watch out for Barea- I know he's a solid player, but he always seems to play out of his mind against the Clippers.

[nickhx2]

happy to play the mavs. we have played quite well against them and i want to watch luka play some NBA playoff games.