Last summer, as the Clippers were racking up a luxury tax bill projected to cost nearly $150 million to assemble a roster regarded by many within the NBA as the league’s deepest, and as team owner Steve Ballmer was declaring the “sky’s the limit,” making the first round of the NBA playoffs would never have been something worth celebrating.
It still isn’t. Despite playing themselves out of home-court advantage in the first round and facing Phoenix as the Western Conference’s No. 5 seed, and with All-Star forward Paul George out for at least the start, if not all, of the opening series because of a sprained right knee, the Clippers still consider themselves dangerous enough to play deeper than the opening round.
“We’re going to be ready no matter what,” starting center Ivica Zubac said Sunday after a win in Phoenix. “We got a good chance. It’s been a long season, but we’re finally here.
“We’re going to get some time to rest, and let’s go win a first series and then go from there.”
One benefit of a first-round series is the six days it will afford for rest and preparation while waiting for the play-in winners, and on Sunday, less than an hour after the matchup had been decided, one Clipper used the time to express a measure of gratitude he was in the playoffs.
Russell Westbrook began his 15th NBA season on a Lakers team that started 2-10. When the Lakers traded him to Utah along with a future draft pick to entice the Jazz to make a deal in February, the appetite among playoff contenders for a 34-year-old who had shot 41% from the field and 29% on three-pointers with 3.5 turnovers per game was unclear.
Now he will face off in the postseason for the first time against Kevin Durant, the perennial All-Star who made up the other half of their superstar duo for eight seasons in Oklahoma City.
Teammates for 608 games, including playoffs, with a winning percentage together of .622, Durant and Westbrook will face off Sunday.
“We haven’t probably played a series against each other, it’s probably the first time, I think?” Westbrook said, smiling. “I don’t remember. So yeah, it’ll be good. Exciting.”
Westbrook said returning to the postseason “is big, man.”
“It’s a blessing and something that I don’t personally take…