This could be the Clippers' most favorable first-round matchup in the Chris Paul era, but they can't afford to take a dangerous Trail Blazers team too lightly.
Whew. It's finally here. The Clippers have now won 60% or more of their games four years in a row, and earned home-court advantage in the first round for the last three. In many senses, they're a proven regular-season team, and not much was ever going to happen this year to move that needle either way. These Clippers were never going to venture into 70-win territory to compete for a top-2 seed, and once Memphis collapsed, any threat of falling to 5th or below was extinct.