Kendrick Perkins drops surprising Clippers take heading into playoffs
Yesterday at 02:31 AM
The Los Angeles Clippers are currently in a three-way tie with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies with a 44-32 record, and if the season ended today, they will be hosting the 7/8 play-in tournament game against the Grizzlies. Nonetheless, with six games remaining in the season, the Clippers would prefer to escape the play-in picture altogether, and their 114-98 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night goes a long way towards that.
Not a single team in the Western Conference will prefer to face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs. Thus, the Clippers would want to take care of business and either enter the playoffs as the six-seed or win the 7/8 play-in game so they can avoid the Thunder altogether until the Western Conference Finals.
Nevertheless, Kendrick Perkins believes that the Clippers are the team that’s best-equipped to handle the Thunder, so it may not be much of an issue if they run into them in the first round if push comes to shove.
“[A threat to the Thunder is] a team in LA and it's not the Lakers. It’s the Los Angeles Clippers,” Perkins said in an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
“This is a team that has one of the best coaches in the game in Tyronn Lue. This is a team that has James Harden who has been balling all season long, made the All-Star team. And now, they have Kawhi Leonard joining, who’s looking healthy again. Looking like the Kawhi of old. And then you throw in a sprinkle of the big fella in the middle, [Ivica] Zubac, who’s averaging a monster double-double right now.”
"It's a team in LA and it's not the Lakers. It's the Los Angeles Clippers"
Kendrick Perkins reveals who he believes is the biggest threat to the Thunder right now
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Perkins believes that the Clippers’ strength in numbers can be a problem for the Thunder.
“You have veterans around them. Nicolas Batum, a guy who’s gonna be a star in his role. Norman Powell, he should have been an All-Star this year. Derrick Jones Jr., think about it. He went to the Finals last year on the Dallas Mavericks. So watch out for the Clippers. I actually have them as my sleeper in the Western Conference,” Perkins added.
As usual, health will be key for the Clippers come playoff time
Ever since the Clippers brought in Kawhi Leonard in 2019, health has been a major issue for the team come playoff time. Leonard has only gone through one playoff run unscathed with the Clippers, and that was in 2020, when everyone had plenty of rest due to the COVID-19-induced hiatus leading up to the NBA bubble.
Leonard will have to be healthy for the Clippers to stand a chance to advance past the first round. It looks like the Clippers have managed Leonard’s health in a better manner than ever this year, and when healthy, the Klaw has shown that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank.
The Clippers’ depth is mighty impressive as well; they brought in Bogdan Bogdanovic and Ben Simmons in February, and they can overwhelm teams with their suffocating defense while allowing Leonard, James Harden, and Norman Powell do the bulk of the damage on offense.
It’s not quite clear if the Clippers can measure up to Perkins’ assertions that they can threaten the Thunder considering how excellent OKC is on both ends of the floor. But against any other team, the Clippers definitely stand a chance of pulling off a first-round upset.
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