The Portland Trail Blazers host the Los Angeles Clippers this evening in a pivotal game as the postseason nears. What makes this game to important? If the Blazers win and defeat the tanking Sacramento Kings on Sunday, Portland will earn the 8th seed in the West. The 8th seed will play the 7th seed, the Phoenix Suns, in a one game play-in. The loser will get another bite at the cherry, hosting a final play-in game against the winner of the game between the 9th and 10th seed. If the Blazers instead
finish as the 9th seed, they’ll need to win two games to advance.
The Blazers are coming off of two losses in a row, both to solid playoff teams. On Wednesday, they lost to the San Antonio Spurs 112-101. The heartbreaker though was losing 137-132 to the Denver Nuggets in overtime on Monday, a game they led by as many as 18. The Clippers are coming off of a loss of their own, a 128-110 setback against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Blazers and Clippers last faced off against each other on March 31 in Los Angeles, the result being a 114-104 victory for Rip City. Portland outworked the Clippers from the opening tip, something Los Angeles would forget at their own peril.
What You Need To Know
Portland Trail Blazers (40-40) vs Los Angeles Clippers (41-39) – Fri. Apr. 10 – 7pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network.
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
How to listen: Rip City Radio 620AM
Trail Blazers Injuries: Jerami Grant, Damian Lillard (out), Vit Krejci, Shaedon Sharpe (questionable)
Clippers Injuries: Bradley Beal, Isaiah Jackson, Yanic Konan Niederhauser (out)
What To Watch For
Deni Avdija: When these two teams met on March 31, Avdija was tremendous. For three quarters he was relentless at attacking the rim, earning 12 free throw attempts. He’d probably argue that a stingy whistle robbed him of even more. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that he was slowed down, and that only occurred when the Clippers made it their all-out mission to stop him, allowing his teammates to drive the bus home for an impressive win. Los Angeles will have a decision to make: Will they send extra help to contain Avdija right from the start? This chess match and how Avdija might respond may be key to how this game plays out.
Rebounding: The Blazers crushed the Clippers 56-38 in rebounds, including 18 on the offensive end. Another advantage like that for the Blazers would make it hard to see how the Clippers could win.
Effort: In the last matchup, Portland simply worked harder than Los Angeles. The Blazers had 32 second-chance points in a complete 48 minutes of grind. The Clippers need to match the energy of Portland, something they failed to do on March 31.
What Others Are Saying
Mon Anthony Valmoria of Basketballnews.com writes about a Clippers season with more than a few twists and turns.
It serves as a reminder that an NBA season is rarely linear. Expectations can shift quickly, and even the most carefully constructed teams can find themselves navigating uncertainty. What defines them is not how they start, but how they respond to adversities being thrown to them over the course of a long NBA regular season.
For the Clippers, the response has been undeniable. They are not the team many expected them to be at the beginning of the season. They may not even resemble the version of themselves from a few months ago.
But they are still here. Still competing. Still fighting. Still believing.
In his piece about post-all-star breakouts, John Hollinger of The Athletic highlights Darius Garland of the Clippers (subscription required).
It’s usually hard for high-usage players to adjust to a new team right away; even the best normally see their numbers take a hit, especially when they change teams midseason.
Not Darius Garland. All of his stats are massively better with the Clippers than they were in his 25 games with Cleveland, virtually mirroring the All-Star numbers he put up in 2024-25.
It’s not only Blazers and Clippers fans who have something at stake in this game. Kellan Olson of Arizona Sports looks at Phoenix’s perspective, the likely opponent for the winner of this game.
Despite lots of what we built up as a Portland squad that poses a ton of problems for what the Suns struggle with, the team to avoid is still the Clippers. They have Leonard in a one-game environment, who the Suns do not have the defensive personnel for, plus tons of postseason experience across the roster. On top of that, Ty Lue is constantly lauded for his playoff gameplans and adjustments, which he could be cooking up against a first-time head coach.
