California counterparts meet Wednesday in a do-or-die start to the Western Conference play-in, as the No. 9 seed Los Angeles Clippers welcome the 10th-seeded Golden State Warriors to Inglewood, Calif.
Los Angeles finished 42-40 in the regular season and fell into the 9/10 matchup by virtue of dropping a pair of late-season contests to the Portland Trail Blazers, including a 116-97 decision last Friday.
That loss at Portland effectively locked the Clippers into the No. 9 seed and they will need two play-in victories to qualify for the playoff field.
Golden State finished the regular season at 37-45 and had been firmly established as the West’s No. 10 team.
Drawing Los Angeles leaves Golden State preparing for Kawhi Leonard, the six-time All-NBA forward. Leonard heads into the play-in round averaging career bests in scoring at 27.9 points per game and 3-pointers made per contest at 2.6.
“He’s always been a great player. I don’t know how much he’s changed since we saw him in the (NBA) Finals in (2019),” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said, referencing Leonard’s Finals MVP performance for the Toronto Raptors against the Warriors seven years ago.
Leonard, who has dealt with knee issues throughout his seven years with the Clippers, appeared in 65 regular-season games, his second-most with the team. His presence helped Los Angeles battle back from a 6-21 start to the season and go 36-19 since Dec. 20.
Included in that stretch were three Los Angeles wins over Golden State, including a 115-110 Clippers win on Sunday to close the regular season.
Leonard sat out Sunday’s game while spark plug Bennedict Mathurin snapped out of a recent cold spell to score 20 points off the bench. Mathurin also had nine rebounds and eight assists in a significant bounce-back from his scoreless outing Friday at Portland.
“Just being in attack mode. … When we get stops, we need him to go a little bit faster, because he’s one of the best guys in transition,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said of expectations for Mathurin going into the play-in game.
Transition opportunities and pace of play both figure to be keys for Wednesday’s matchup, Lue said following the win on Sunday. The coach noted Golden State “can embarrass you” if teams fail to match the Warriors’ tempo.
Golden State scored 114.6 points per game in an injury-plagued campaign, but allowed 115.2 and committed 15.7 turnovers, its second most since 2007-08.
However, the Warriors ranked second in the NBA by making 1,286 3-pointers during the regular season. That came even with former two-time Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry sidelined for 39 games. He recently returned from a knee injury and moves forward on a minutes restriction.
“He’s had four games now where he’s stretched almost up to 30,” Kerr said. “With the two days off, he should be able to get at least that (Wednesday).”
Curry made 190 3-pointers on the campaign, which was a team-high despite his limited availability.
Brandin Podziemski hit 153 from deep while playing all 82 games. Moses Moody, the third-most prolific shooter on the squad, sustained a season-ending knee injury in March, contributing to a heightened role for De’Anthony Melton.
Melton and big man Kristaps Porzingis moved into the Golden State starting lineup at the conclusion of the regular season.
