Golden State Meets LAC in Must-Win Last Game; Wins, Loses by Other Teams May Muddle Things
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 13 Apr 2025
The Golden State Warriors host the Los Angeles Clippers Sunday (3:30 am Monday in Manila) in one of the season's final matches with both teams needing to win, especially the Warriors in order to secure the sixth automatic playoff seeding and avoid going through the sudden death play-in round.
The Clippers also need the win to have a chance at getting to the Top 4 in the West vis a vis the Denver Nuggets which have the tough second place Houston Rockets for their final assignment.
Going into the final games, LAC and Denver are tied at fourth at 49-32 behind runaway Conference and league topnotcher Oklahoma (66-15), Houston (52-29) and LA Lakers (50-31).
The Lakers have Portland Trailblazers for final assignment while as mentioned, Denver is playing Houston which like Oklahoma, is already secured in their respective 1-2 placing regardless if they lose their final games.
A win by the Clippers and a loss by Denver will raise LAC to fourth and drop the Nuggets to fifth.
A win by Denver and a win by the Clippers will be resolved by another mode of tie-breaker as to which will be #4 as the two split their season series, 2-2.
A win by Denver and a loss by the Lakers will also result to the need for another mode of tie-breaker for #3 seed as the two teams split their four-game season series, 2-2.
The Lakers hold the tie-break advantage over the Clippers and will not drop lower than #4 in the event Denver gets #3.
Actually, the Clippers can afford to lose to the Warriors in their last game and still remain #5 as they have the tie-break advantage having beaten Golden State in their three season games. In this case the Warriors end up #6.
Golden State and Minnesota Timberwolves are currently tied for 6th and 7th both a with record of 48-33.
A win by current #7 Timberwolves over the cellar dwelling Utah Jazz will tie them with the Warriors in the event of a Warriors win in which case Golden State clinches sixth seeding for holding the tie-break advantage over Minnesota.
A loss by the Warriors and a win by the Timberwolves will however allow Minnesota to vault to #6 and drop Golden State to #7 and into the play-in round against #8 Memphis Grizzlies.
In that eventuality, the Warriors will host the Memphis Grizzlies in a sudden death for the 7th seeding in the playoff. The loser on the other hand plays the winner of the other play-in between #9 Sacramento Kings and #10 Dallas Mavericks for the 8th and final seed in the playoffs in the West.
The Warriors put themselves in this difficult scenario after they were upset by a short-handed San Antonio Spurs at home, 114-111 after leading most of the game at Chase Center on Thursday, April 10.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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