The NBA standings in 2014 for the playoffs have the LA Clippers up 3-2 in their series over the Golden State Warriors and now they will have a chance to close things out on Thursday in Game 6 and this comes after the Donald Sterling lifetime ban and that helped cut off the players before they were going to boycott the playoff games set for Tuesday night.
The Clippers have been playing with tons of distractions with the whole Sterling saga and now the team can at least for the moment worry about just basketball. The issue has taken hold of the entire NBA and has taken away from the amazing playoffs and now that Adam Silver has banned Sterling, the Clippers have the chance to make a championship run. David Stern is lucky he is not running things now, as he easily would have defended the owners or Sterling, not for what he said, but guaranteed the ban would not have been a lifetime one.
The Clippers had a rough Game 4 and that came after the news about Sterling was released originally and those comments he made were fresh and the team was crushed. The Warriors were better that night than the Clippers, but many players did not have their heads in the game and after the ban on Tuesday, the fans and the team were energetic and they hope to take that into the game on Thursday as well.
Blake Griffin has been playing well in the series and Chris Paul has shown his leadership throughout everything and now DeAndre Jordan is having a bit of a breakout, as he was shut down in Game 4 and ended up with a game high 25 points in the matchup on Tuesday. The Clippers won the game on Tuesday by 10 points and while things got kind of close towards the end, the Clips were able to hang on and now they have the chance to close out the series. If things return for a Game 7, the Staples Center will be very emotional and while everyone was affected by what Sterling said, the fans have rallied around the team.
The Clippers have been getting some solid play from Matt Barnes and Jamaal Crawford as well and the latter player was named sixth man of the year for the season on Wednesday. Griffin is averaging over 20 points per game and he will be key in Game 6 as well and if the team can shut down Steph Curry again like they did on Tuesday, they should win the series.
The Thursday schedule is packed with big games and apart from the Clippers and Warriors, which will be the late game on TNT, the schedule also has the Indiana Pacers and the Hawks. The Pacers are down 3-2 and in danger of losing to the eighth seed and now they must win the next two games to remain alive and into the next round and Atlanta has played very well and that Game 5 win could be it for the team.
Check here for the playoffs standings and schedule for the games in the NBA and the first round.
