April 12, 2017

The Clippers secured home court advantage on Wednesday night with a 115-95 win over Sacramento in the final regular season contest.

LA needed to win after the Jazz defeated the Spurs at home.  The Clippers and Jazz will open the 1st round of the playoffs at Staples Center on Saturday night.  The Clips won the season series 3-1, and as a result, won the tie-breaker over the Jazz in the standings.

“I wanted to win the game,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “I thought it was good for our guys to win. But honestly, home court was still more important. We got that, so that was nice to get for us. That’s a bonus.”

DeAndre Jordan had 18 points and 17 rebounds to lead LA, while Chris Paul added 17 points and 9 assists.  The Clippers had 6 players in double figures, which included all 5 starters and Jamal Crawford off the bench.

“Maybe a few weeks ago, our spirit just wasn’t the same,” Paul said. “Our defensive intensity wasn’t there. I think the past couple of weeks we picked that up. It’s nice to finish the season strong, but all that was to build habits for the playoffs.”

The Kings were led by Willie Cauley-Stein, who scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.  Arron Afflalo had 18 points as well.

The Kings were the last team to defeat the Clippers back on March 26th.  Since then, the Clippers have reeled off 7 straight wins, and piled up 11 victories in their last 13 games.

Game 1 of the Clippers and Jazz will be Saturday night at Staples Center, with tip-off schedule for 7:30 pm.