ASA 8* play on: LA Clippers (+) over LA Lakers, Thursday 9PM ET

A little more sense of urgency here for the Clippers who won’t catch the Lakers for the #1 seed in the West (which means a better draw in the opening round as there is no home court advantage), but could drop in the standings meaning they face a tougher opponent in Rd. 1. As it stands right now the Clippers would face the Mavericks while the Lakers get Memphis or one of the play-in teams. A drop in the standings for the Clippers could mean a potential first round game against the Rockets, Thunder or Jazz who are all better than Dallas in our metrics. The Lakers are expected to take a cautious approach with Anthony Davis who has a minor eye injury and does not expect to play Thursday. The Clippers also have some injury/bad decisions to deal with as Montrezl Harrell and P-Beverly are both doubtful while Lou Williams is out after leaving the bubble to visit a Strip Club. These two teams are eerily similar when it comes to efficiency ratings as the Lakers rank 3rd in defensive efficiency, Clippers 5th. On the offensive side the Clippers hold a slight edge ranking 2nd while the Lakers are 4th. In the season series the Clippers won two of the three meetings and have a better record against the league's best teams than the Lakers do. The Clippers are a deep team and will have both of their Super Stars available here with Kawhi and Paul George which will be the difference against a Lakers team with no motivation.