The Race for the 4th Seed

The Clippers seem to be the team the Pelicans are mainly in competition with for playoff seeding. The game Friday night at SKC between the Clips and Pels is the final time the teams will compete against each other in the regular season.

The Clippers play at the Chicago Bulls Thursday night before coming to N.O, to play the Pels Friday night. They also play the Atlanta Hawks (without Trae Young) at home Sunday. They play two games at the Portland Trailblazers on March 20 and 22; Philadelphia 76ers at home March 24; 76ers again in Philly March 27 (probably both games with 76ers missing Joel Embiid); and Charlotte Hornets in Charlotte March 31. While there are no EASY wins in the NBA, those are games the Clippers should win.

The Clippers also play the Indiana Pacers at home March 25; at Orlando March 29; at Sacramento April 2; Denver at home April 4; Cleveland at home April 7; and away and home against the Phoenix Suns April 9 and 10. They also have two home games against the Utah Jazz, and end the season with a home game against the Houston Rockets.

For the sake of argument, lets say the Clippers lose to the Bulls, and the Pelicans beat them on Friday (if the Pels lose we can basically stop thinking about the 4th seed). Then lets give the Clippers wins against the Hawks; 2 wins against Portland; 2 wins against Philly; and a win against Charlotte. Thats 6 more wins for the Clippers. And lets say they split the remainder of the games 5-4. That would give the Clippers a final record of 52-30. If that happens, the Pelicans could not lose more than 4 games the rest of the way in order to overtake the Clippers.

The Pels still have to play Milwaukee and Boston, and are finished with Charlotte. They play San Antonio Spurs and Portland once more, and they also have to play at Orlando and at Miami. The Pels have a home and away against the Phoenix Suns, and a game at Sacramento. Overall it looks like the Clippers have the schedule advantage, again meaning the Pels MUST beat the Clippers Friday night to have ANY chance of overtaking them. Don't know if Kawhi Leonard will be available Friday night.

Sorry for the long post!