The Los Angeles Clippers seem to be the general favorites to win the championship in this Covid-19 affected season. They have by far the deepest roster in the league and a superstar in Kawhi Leonard coming off a championship in 2019, making it the second time he has received Finals MVP. Not to mention a coaching staff in Doc Rivers, Tyronn Lue, and others that boasts championship experience.
Welcome back to Far-Fetched Friday, where every Friday we give you a bold prediction that we believe will come to fruition. My prediction for this week concerns the second best team in LA.
So what is my reasoning for predicting the Clippers miss out on the Conference Finals? Playoff seeding.
It's not a secret that the Western Conference playoff experience is a gauntlet filled with elite teams from 1 to 8. That means seeding is extremely important to gain any advantage possible. With regular-season basketball returning soon, there's every possibility that the Clippers could drop from the 2-seed to 3 or 4.
They are a game and a half ahead of a Denver team that just added Bol Bol to the rotation to amazing results. And three games ahead of a Utah team that could either come out great or awful depending on how the Gobert situation affected the team.
The boogeyman of the Conference is, of course, the Houston Rockets. At the 6-seed right now, if the Clippers were to drop to the 3-seed, that means a first-round matchup. Let's say the Clippers escape Westbrook and Harden, that's a monumental series to take on in the first round and would affect the energy output for the rest of the playoffs.
With poor conditioning and no basketball for the last four months, anything could happen in Orlando. My prediction is that the favorited Los Angeles Clippers do not make the Conference Finals.
It is time to throw away the American inferiority complex with its place in the sport, where many blindly claim that technique should come above all in choosing and developing the best prospects and that the U.S. is not an international power because it cares too much about athleticism.
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