nbaoffseason:

The biggest impediment to the Clipper’s improbable playoff bid is their brutal February schedule. They’re exciting, and they’re winning games - but all those wins are coming at the Staples Center. With ten more home games than road games in the books, they won’t be able to hit the Easy button much longer - and the Hard stuff arrives on Groundhog Day.

They start with a visit from the Bulls, and then play eleven consecutive games on the road. The travel isn’t as bad as it looks - the All-Star Game happens at Staples in the middle of that block, and the last game is a road game at Staples - but the schedule is brutal. The Clips play four of the top six Eastern Conference teams on this stretch, two of them in a back-to-back, and have to face the remaining two at home this month. They get OK City and New Orleans in consecutive night, and they face Milwaukee on a back-to-back, late enough that Brandon Jennings should be fully recovered.

That’s why, despite a recent hot streak, the Clippers’ playoff odds are just 2%. So enjoy the Dunk Contest, because it figures to be Blake the Quake’s biggest spotlight of the season. And next year, I guarantee that the Clips will win more than three road games before the State of the Union address.

The Clippers’ schedule, so far.

(Sean Keane)