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April 1st brought some good news for Clippers fans. It also brought some intriguing news that will be good or bad depending on how you prefer things.
Playoff Ticket Sales Start Monday
Per a Clippers press release, playoff tickets will go on sale Monday, April 4, 2016 starting at 10 AM. Fans may purchase a maximum of 6 tickets to the 4 possible home playoff games of the first & second rounds (dates of which are NOT set yet). If you are interested, visit the Clippers or AXS site, or go to the Staples Center box office.
Memphis Lost. Again.
Make it FIVE losses in a row (and now 2-8 in their last 10 games) for the Grizzlies as they dropped their April Fools game against Toronto by a score of 99 to 95. Memphis is now only ONE game ahead of the Portland Trailblazers. Since the two teams tied their seasonal series at 2-2, the next applicable tie breaker is conference records. If the two teams tie for overall records, Portland right now leads Memphis with a 26-21 to 25-23 conference record.
Whether Portland potentially overtaking Memphis for the 5th seed is a good thing remains a matter of opinion. Some may say it's good, some may prefer facing Memphis.
Dallas Revived?
The Dallas Mavericks won their 3rd straight as J.J. Barea took 23 shots (yeah...29 points or not, dude shot ONE free throw all night) and downed the resurgent Pistons (with a still solid 40-36 record) by a score of 98 to 89. Dallas continues to hold onto the 7th seed (winning the current tie breaking with Utah). Dallas also remains 3 games behind Memphis for the 5th seed and the playoff match up that NBA fans (and the city of Dallas) desperately want.
It's worth noting, Dallas leads Memphis in their seasonal series 2-1 and have one game remaining (April 10). Dallas also WON its seasonal series with Portland 2-1. So don't count out a Dallas-Clippers first round match up yet. Dallas is definitely playing hard to avoid facing the top 3 teams in he West.
For that matter, perhaps the Clippers should be hoping for a Dallas match up too?