By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Los Angeles Clippers just made the Western Conference playoff seeding picture more interesting following their lopsided 135-104 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the ongoing NBA regular season final race on April 6, 2025.
With the victory over the Mavericks, the Clippers just forced a three-way tie with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Memphis Grizzlies that all have an identical win-loss record of 46 wins and 32 losses.
Despite earning their fourth consecutive dub, the Clippers remained in the sixth-eighth spot in the West and are now in a must-win situation in their four remaining regular season games.
If the Timberwolves and the Grizzlies pile up the win, a single loss out of the four can put the Clippers in the eighth spot, and might enter the NBA Play-In stage.
The Clippers are currently targeting a direct ticket to the NBA postseason, which means that they have to finish as the no. 6 team in the West to avoid Play-In. They will resume their campaign on April 9, 2025 against the San Antonio Spurs and will have their final regular season game on April 14, 2025, against the Golden State Warriors.
As per Los Angeles head coach Tyronn Lue, his team is now at its peak, especially since franchise swingman Kawhi Leonard is already out of his minutes restriction phase.
During the past months, the Clippers are still managing Leonard’s rotation minutes due to his lingering injuries but in the first four games of April, the former NBA champion is currently logging in 33 minutes per game.
The Clippers roster is now healthy and received a huge boost from Norman Powell, the team’s main sniper when Leonard was ruled out indefinitely in the first half of the NBA regular season.
Powell missed the team’s past games due to a right hamstring sprain and came back as if he never left. The high-flying shooting guard dropped 34 points against Cleveland last March 31 and followed it up with a 21-point performance against Orlando five days ago.
Ben Simmons, a former NBA lottery pick who was acquired in the mid-season, seemed to fit in his new role as the Clippers’ versatile guy who can check any mismatch.
In his first five games as a new member of the Clippers, Lue designated Simmons as a point guard, and sometimes shifted him to a frontcourt when the team deployed small-ball rotations.
“We have to be locked in. The Wild West will always be a Wild West. It will be a dog fight in the final week of the NBA regular season,” said Lue.
