Los Angeles Lakers: Ideal western conference playoff seeding

No.7 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. No.2 Los Angeles Clippers

The pick for the seventh seed came down to one simple question: which team out of the Mavericks and the Thunder is going to give the Clippers the biggest run for their money?

Now, theoretically, the Rockets or the Jazz could slip down here but barring an unforeseen injury that’s probably not happening. So that leaves us with just the Thunder because the Clippers would probably send Luka Doncic and the Mavs packing in four games. It’s very possible that they might also do that to the Thunder too, but at least they’ll put up more of a fight.

When it comes to the second seed, the Clippers are basically a lock in my mind. They’re starting to get hot and seem pretty healthy as of late, not to mention they’re still undefeated when playing with their full lineup.

In a series with these two teams, the Clippers come out on top every single time but the Thunder’s experience and grit might be able to win them at least a game. Chris Paul might not be in his prime anymore but something tells me that CP3 still has a couple of magical performances up his sleeve and what better time to pull them out than the playoffs against one of his former teams.

The Clippers are gritty and Paul, Steven Adams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will most certainly not go down without a fight. Plus, they’ve already managed to beat the Clippers once this season in a game where SGA went off for 32 points and Adams put up 20 points and 17 rebounds.

Of course, the Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard for that game and they’ve added pieces such as Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris since then, but the Thunder have at least proven that they’re not afraid to step up to the plate.

In the end, the Clips probably walk out of this series in a tough, scrappy gentleman’s sweep of five games.