Lakers look to keep playoff dreams alive vs Clippers - 5 point preview

Tonight at 1 AM on Sony SIX, the LA Lakers will face the LA Clippers in a must win game. Ever since Blake Griffin and Chris Paul came into their own, the battle for LA has been hanging in the balance. Even though the Clippers have a much better record than the Lakers, 50-26 to 40-36, the myth of the Lakers still overshadows the Clippers. Even though there have been a number of entertaining battles for LA, never have the stakes been as high as tonight for the Lakers. Their very existence in the playoffs hangs in the balance. “It’s important to both teams. The Clippers have a better level of talent. The Lakers have even more to play for. It will be an interesting game. I think it will be a highly competitive one.”- said Jeff Van Gundy. Here are 5 points to look forward to:

Playing for playoffs

The Utah Jazz are nipping at the heels of the Lakers with a 40-37 record. Even more worrisome for the Lakers, the Jazz own the tiebreaker with the Lakers as they have taken the season series against them. That means that if the Lakers and Jazz end up being tied for the 8th playoff spot at the end of the season, the spot will belong to the Jazz.

Back on January 23, the Lakers stood at 17-25 and the last nails were being hammered into their coffin before they resurrected their season by going 23-11 since then. There are six games remaining for the Lakers this season and four of those are against teams which are in the playoffs in the West. In contrast, the Jazz just have five games left and only three of their opponents are in the top eight.

Kobe’s legacy

Kobe Bryant‘s career after this season resembles Schrodinger’s ‘cat in the box’ theory. Sometimes the Black Mamba says that he will play to the age of 40, sometimes he says he may retire from the NBA in a season or two. If the Lakers end up losing tonight vs the Clippers and subsequently it costs them an entry in the postseason, it will be a major factor in influencing the decision of Kobe to continue to play next season. Whether he uses it as motivation to get that elusive 6th ring or he looks at it as a sign that his time is past, is up to him. But you can bet that the Lakers not making it to the postseason will be a major influence on his decision.

Bring out the brooms

This season, the Clippers have a chance to sweep the regular season series vs the Lakers. “I think that would be special because it’s a moment in history.” said Caron Butler of the possibility of winning the Division title by beating the Lakers. This season the Clippers have won their three games vs the Lakers with a combined margin of 39 points. They can sweep the Lakers for the first time since 1974-75, back when the Clippers were known as the Buffalo Braves.

Division title

The Clippers thrive in the open court and the Lakers are 20th in the league at defending in transition. Their run-and-gun style has largely contributed towards them being at 50 wins this season. And with a win tonight, they can win the Division title. But not all Clippers are enthusiastic about it. “For me, I kind of have bigger goals than that for the team,” Griffin said. “The team has bigger goals than that. We kind of expected to win the division. We didn’t come into the season thinking, ‘Oh, it would be great if we could win the division.’ It’s something to be proud of, and maybe there’s a banner that goes up in here, but it’s not something that we’re going to be like, it needs to go up in Staples and we can hang our hat on that. Let’s start with, we’ve got 50 wins. That’s not enough for us. We want more. The division title is great, (but) it’s not enough for us. We want more. That’s our mindset, but you have to start somewhere, so we’re pleased with hopefully attaining both of them.”

While winning the Division title by itself is not much of an achievement for such a team, it is the first step towards their ultimate goal. And it can be taken tonight.

Lineups

Here’s how the lineups stack up for the two teams-

Steve Blake vs Chris Paul

Steve Nash is listed as questionable for tonight because of his hip/hamstring. No contest here. Chris Paul is the best point guard in the league hands down and regardless of the competency with which Blake has tried to hold down the point for the Lakers, he is no match for Paul.

Jodie Meeks vs Willie Green

This here is a smoke screen. Green may start for the Clippers but we all know that Jamal Crawford is coming off the bench to pulverize opponents from the 2 guard spot. Meekly Meeks can’t hang with Crawford.

Kobe Bryant vs Caron Butler

Butler is known as Tough Juice for his citrus component/toughness, but there may not be a tougher player in the NBA than Kobe Bryant. The Black Mamba is having his best season since 2009 in spite of the toll it is taking on his body. “I’d like to see him be a little less aggressive early on and be more aggressive later in the game,” Gasol said. “He needs his legs to be effective. And with the amount of minutes he’s playing lately, it’s normal that he’s tired at the end of games.”

Kobe’s quote was more succinct. “I’m f***ing tired.” he said hoarsely after the win vs the Grizzlies.

“He’s just playing a lot of minutes. I already said two games ago that I was concerned about it. But he’s the best at making plays down the stretch. That’s why he’s got the ball in his hands, and we count on those plays, especially in close games like this one.” Pau added.

Regardless of how tired Kobe is, he is still Kobe, no question. Advantage Lakers.

Blake Griffin vs Pau Gasol

Fundamentally, Gasol is the more skilled player of the two. But taking into account Blake Griffin’s athleticism, Blake takes the cake. Also, this season Gasol has been out of sorts and Griffin has the luxury of being on a team which has been steamrolling for the better part of this season. This one is close to call, but looking at how the Lakers underutilize Gasol, the advantage goes to the Clippers.

DeAndre Jordan vs Dwight Howard

Howard has been struggling with his back all season long. Even when he is not at 100%, he is still one of the best centers in the league. Jordan is one of the few centers who are more athletic than Howard. And he has been improving his other skills as well. “I just wonder what he did over the summer,” San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said of Jordan recently. “When I started watching him at the beginning of the year, he’s just different. He plays more confidently.” Being a Clipper fan, I see the advantage going to the Clippers, but they also under utilize this big man but he has only been playing 24.2 minutes per game this season. Mostly because of his free throw woes, he has been used sparingly in late game situations. Maybe the Lakers and Clippers can come to an understanding, neither fouls the other’s center intentionally to send them to the line. Advantage here goes to the Lakers.