The Clippers finished the regular season tied with the Rockets for the second best record. Their reward for this is that they get to play the Spurs. Not really that rewarding, if you ask me. Everyone thinks that the Clippers will lose the series despite having home court advantage, and they know that everyone feels this way too. ESPN’s Arash Markazi reports Blake Griffin talking about this, saying,
“According to pretty much every single poll we’re supposed to lose. We’re the underdogs in this. They’re the champions. They’re the defending champs, and they are that until someone knocks them off.”
Griffin was asked if he embraced the role of the underdog despite having the higher seed and home court advantage, and he responded saying, ¨Absolutely, 100 percent.” He then talked about how he feels the Clippers are always underdogs.
¨There’s not a lot of series that I’ve been a part of where we have been picked to win in my entire career. As far as motivation, that’s just how it is. That’s how it’s been. That’s fine.¨
Griffin clearly hopes to use the talk of his squad being underdogs as motivation. They want to go out and prove all the doubters wrong. Clippers coach, Doc Rivers, also said that he hopes to bring up the fact that no one thinks his team will win, but he will use that as motivation.
¨I think they know it. It doesn’t matter at the end of the day, but you can use it. I’ll use it probably once … “Hey, no one thinks you’re going to win.” At the end of the day, you’ve just got to be ready to play. All that other stuff, it sounds great, and it is, you can use it. It’s always nice when an opposing player says something that gets your guys riled, but all that lasts for about 30 seconds and then you’ve got to finish, you’ve got to play the game.¨
Doc will use the underdog status to motivate his team in the same way that Blake Griffin will, as a point of emphasis that the team should use in their favor during their series with the defending champions. The Spurs and Clippers were battling for the No. 2 seed last Wednesday, but now the Clippers ended up being the 3 seed and the Spurs are the 6 seed. Blake said that seeding is a non-factor in the Western Conference.
“The 3-6 as far as I’m concerned doesn’t really mean a whole lot,” Griffin said. “When every team is separated by one game pretty much, teams are tied and the only reason a team is ahead is because of divisions. I don’t really look at it like a 3-6, as a true 3-6, it is but it’s not a true 3-6 matchup.”
The series between these teams will be extremely fun to watch, and will likely go to seven games. These are two of the best teams in the West, but sadly one of them will be going home because that’s just how life goes in the Western Conference.
