The hottest conspiracy theory in the NBA is that Lakers’ Western Conference rivals are trying to help Portland become eighth seed in the playoffs.
The Trail Blazers were one of the most impressive teams in the bubble, with wins over Houston and Denver, and nearly beat Boston, which is third in the east and won 46 games.
So when Clippers manager Doc Rivers rested Kawhi Leonard on Saturday against the Trail Blazers, and then withdrew his other star, Paul George, from the game with three minutes to go and the Clippers trailing by three, the raised eyebrows. Was it an attempt to launch the match to improve the Lakers’ chances of seeing this tough team in the first round?
Rivers said George simply had a minute limit and had reached his limit.
Then the coach was asked if he thought the Trail Blazers could beat the Lakers.
“I’m not involved in that,” said Rivers, whose team beat Portland despite not having its stars at the end. “I honestly don’t watch it. I heard our kids talk about it, I thought, ‘Listen, that’s their business. Our work is what we are interpreting. ‘We need to focus on this. “
The Lakers also refused to engage in conversation after their 116-111 defeat to Indiana. LeBron James, who scored 31 points against the Pacers, said it was none of his business.
Manager Frank Vogel was questioned about the Clippers’ decisions with their stars and how it could affect his team.
“I have no problem,” Vogel said. “Everyone has to manage their team in their own way.”
More he thinks about is the management of his Lakers team, which have lost their third consecutive game since they took the West seed and dropped to 2-4 on the bubble.
Vogel has not yet played the scheduled playoff rotation and on Saturday night conceded significant minutes to reserves Jared Dudley, Quinn Cook and Talen Horton-Tucker. Cook was the second-best scorer of the Lakers with 21 points. Dwight Howard offered a late push with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Anthony Davis saw frequent braces and only made three of 14 shots, scoring eight points.
“Obviously I have to be better,” Davis said. “I looked good tonight. Just lost. A few shots around the edge – layup I missed. Three open – missed. Open midrange shot. The shots just weren’t going. “
Pacers striker TJ Warren scored 39 points, continuing an outstanding performance in the bubble.
Vogel plans to continue experimenting with his lineups during the next two seeded matches. He’ll wait for the break before the playoffs begin to work on those rotations. At that point he will be even closer to knowing which team the Lakers will face in the first round.
The Clippers’ win on Saturday beat Portland a game and a half behind the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies, and the Trail Blazers are only mid-game ahead of 10th-seeded Phoenix, who is 5-0 on the bubble.
Once the seeding matches are over, the eighth and ninth teams of the West will participate in a play-in game.
If the eighth seeded wins, they advance to the playoffs. If the ninth seed wins, the teams play an elimination match.
And while the Lakers are paying attention to that game, they found reasons to be optimistic about themselves on Saturday night.
“We wanted to improve today; I feel like we did, ”James said. “… We played Lakers basketball tonight and won, lost or tied, when we do we will give ourselves a chance to have a lot of success in the win column.”
Three remarks on the Lakers:
– LeBron James is becoming more comfortable with the oddities of bubble play. He said after the game that he couldn’t remember the last time he played a real game in an empty gym – it didn’t even happen in high school.
– Talen Horton-Tucker gained more minutes in the rotation with his game. After scoring 10 points against Houston on Thursday, the 19-year-old rookie scored 10 points against Indiana.
– After shooting 10.5%, 13.5% and 25% three-pointers in three of their first bubble games, the Lakers shot better on Saturday. This was partly due to Quinn Cook’s performance, who scored five out of nine three and was their second-best scorer.
