LOS ANGELES — The Golden State Warriors will begin their three-peat quest against an old rival in the LA Clippers while the Denver Nuggets will look to prove they’re legitimate challengers to the champs as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
The West playoff seeding was finalized late Wednesday night when Denver and the Portland Trail Blazers both completed stirring come-from-behind victories on the final night of the regular season. The Nuggets clinched the No. 2 seed with a 99-95 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves and sent the Houston Rockets down to the fourth seed in the process.
The Rockets, who could have been as high as the second seed, slid to fourth because of the Nuggets’ win and Portland’s 136-131 win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. That means a Warriors-Houston rematch could now potentially take place in the second round after Golden State needed seven games to outlast Houston in the conference finals last postseason.
The Warriors will begin their title defense renewing an old rivalry against the Clippers. Of course, the No. 1 vs. No. 8 matchup lacks the sizzle of past Warriors-Clippers battles with Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan all gone. Still, the Warriors love putting on a show at Staples Center and are thrilled to have a short commute to Southern California. Golden State enters the series with a 17-3 record against the Clippers since Steve Kerr became head coach in 2014.
Now they will start their latest title run with a new weapon to use in DeMarcus Cousins, who will get his first taste of the postseason in his nine-year career.
While coach Doc Rivers admitted that he would have liked to have avoided the two-time defending champs in the first round, the Clippers will look to continue to do what they have done most of this season — exceed expectations by playing tough-nosed team basketball with a second unit powered by super sixth-man scorer Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell.
“We got our work cut out for us,” Warriors All-Star Kevin Durant said. “I know it’s a 1-8 series but they got a lot of talent that know how to play in the playoffs. They got players that are ready for the playoffs so we’re looking forward to seeing what our game plan is, looking forward to preparing for this team, we’ll see how it goes.”
“They got an an all-world scorer in Lou Williams who can get it going at any time in the game from anywhere,” Durant added. “You got [Danilo] Gallinari who can do the same. And then you got wing players like [Landry] Shamet and Wilson Chandler, guys that can come in and give you some problems in the playoffs for a stretch — having another big like [Ivica] Zubac, so they got a nice team, well-coached. They’re going to definitely play us extremely hard from the start and it’s not going to be as easy as people think it is.”
With the Warriors heavily favored over the Clippers, Golden State’s second-round foe will be either the Rockets or the fifth-seeded Utah Jazz. For much of Wednesday night, it looked as if the Rockets would get the 2-seed before the Nuggets and the Blazers made their comeback wins.
The Rockets and Jazz split their four meetings this season but Houston enters the postseason with a red-hot reigning MVP James Harden, who has helped the Rockets win 20 of their last 24 games.
The Nuggets will be making their first postseason appearance since coach George Karl’s last season in 2012-2013. The Nuggets clinched the second seed with a game-ending 15-0 run against the Timberwolves. The Nuggets will face the San Antonio Spurs, who clinched the seventh seed and avoided a first-round matchup with the Warriors by beating the Dallas Mavericks, 105-94, coupled with Oklahoma City’s win on Wednesday night.
The Nuggets and Spurs split their season series this year and haven’t faced each other in the postseason since 2007, when San Antonio knocked out Denver in the first round en route to a title. This will be DeMar DeRozan’s first postseason with the Spurs.
Russell Westbrook helped Oklahoma City clinch the sixth seed and a meeting with the third-seeded Blazers on Wednesday with his 34th triple-double of the season. Westbrook’s 15 points, 17 assists and 11 rebounds led the Thunder to a 127-116 win over Milwaukee without Paul George (right shoulder).
Thunder coach Billy Donovan expects George to be ready for the postseason matchup against Portland, which needed a 28-point rally to clinch the third seed. Oklahoma City enters this matchup having swept the season series against Portland this season.
“Every time we’ve played them over the years, it’s pretty much been a war — physical, close games, chippy,” Portland’s Damian Lillard said after their final meeting of the regular season. “This one was no different.”
The Blazers will seek playoff redemption after they were swept as the 3-seed last year by the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round.
ESPN’s Nick Friedell and Malika Andrews contributed to this report.