4th seed in the West (at least temporarily)

the-commish said
With the Clippers loss last night at home to the Indiana Pacers, the Pels are in a tie with the Clips standings-wise... but the Pels own the tiebreaker. We also know that there is a good chance that having the 4th seed will likely be fleeting because of the very tough upcoming schedule.

The Clippers remaining schedule looks friendly for them, but they lost to the Embiid-less 76ers at home a few days ago. Here is the Clippers upcoming schedule of games which, on paper, looks much better for them.

Mar 27 at Philadelphia 76ers
Mar 29 at Orlando Magic
Mar 31 at Charlotte Hornets
Apr 2 at Sacramento Kings
Apr 4 Denver Nuggets
Apr 5 Utah Jazz
Apr 7 Cleveland Cavaliers
Apr 9 at Phoenix Suns
Apr 10 Phoenix Suns
Apr 12 Utah Jazz
Apr 14 Houston Rockets (the red-hot Rockets, fighting hard to make the play-in)

The Pels schedule seems harder, but the Clips are 4-6 in their last 10 games. And the Pels also have to be wary of the Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, and Phoenix Suns who are all within striking distance. The last few weeks of the regular season should be quite interesting.

Clippers schedule doesn’t look friendly at all. Their Hornets and Jazz games looks like the only apparent winnable games. The other 7 are against 42-30 Magic, 44-29 Cavs, 42-30 Kings, 43-30 Suns twice, 51-22 Nuggets and the Rockets who have won 10 straight. Can’t see them going better than 4-7 or 5-6. They’ll probably finish at 49-33.

If the Pels take advantage of a shaky Bucks team at the SKC tonight, they can go 5-5 or 6-4 during the last 10. Ws against Bucks at home, Suns at home, Spurs, Blazers, and the Lakers at home. That’s enough to win the tiebreaker against the Clippers with the same record and take the 4th seed.