The Los Angeles Clippers will enter the 2021 postseason with higher expectations than last season. Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Tyronn Lue's team is healthy and playing together at the right time.
With only one game remaining — Sunday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder — the Clippers have two teams they can face in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs. After the loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday night, it became impossible for one of those two teams to be the Los Angeles Lakers.
Here's who the Clippers can face in the playoffs and who they match up with best.
2. Dallas Mavericks
Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks present an interesting challenge to the Clippers. Although I suspect a repeat of last season's playoff matchup where the Clippers won in six games, a healthy Dallas team led by Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis presented several problems for the Clippers.
For one, Porzingis was a problem before his injury, averaging 23.7 points and 8.7 rebounds on 52.5 percent shooting from the field. His ability to knock down the 3 during the series (52.9 percent) constantly forced Ivica Zubac and Montrezl Harrell out of the paint, opening up driving lanes. That's where Trey Burke and Seth Curry did most of their damage, constantly breaking down the Clippers' defense and scoring at the rim.
Aside from that, Luka Doncic nearly averaged a 30-point triple-double (31.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 8.7 assists) on 50 percent shooting for the series. Doncic is a matchup nightmare, but the Clippers have the guys to throw at him and slow him down.
This season, Curry is gone, but Burke remains. Under head coach Tyronn Lue, it's unlikely the Clippers are as unprepared for the role players scoring as much as they were last season.
The Mavs are frustrating in that they're one year removed from being the best offense in NBA history, but they're also very susceptible to letdown performances.
If the two were to go head-to-head for the second consecutive postseason, I'd expect the Clippers to prevail in six games again.
1. Portland Trail Blazers
I'll preface this by saying that Damian Lillard is incredible and Portland has a lot of individual talent, from Lillard and CJ McCollum to Jusuf Nurkic, Norman Powell, and Carmelo Anthony. That being said, there likely isn't a team the Clippers match up better with than the Portland Trail Blazers.
Simply put, the Clippers have all the defensive weapons to make life for Lillard and/or McCollum hell while also being able to score at essentially every position at will. This has been especially true since Kawhi Leonard and Paul George joined the team. Portland has been swept by LA the last two seasons, going a combined 0-6.
The Clippers boasted a 125.9 offensive rating and 111.7 defensive rating in the season series with the Blazers — a 14.2 net rating. Last year, it was a 10.5 net rating in favor of the Clippers.
Even more surprising is how badly the Clippers have put Damian Lillard in jail. The league's third-leading scorer at 28.9 points per game on 45.0 percent shooting averaged just 15.5 points on 17.9 percent shooting against the Clippers this year. No, that's not a typo. Lillard made just five of his 28 field goal attempts in the first two matchups and missed the third.
If the two face off in a series, I'd expect the Clippers to make a quick series of it.
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