Cavaliers at Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are trying to earn the best possible seed in the Western Conference playoffs and a losing streak of any length could send them back to the No. 8 spot. The Clippers will try to avoid back-to-back losses when they return from a four-game road trip to host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.
Los Angeles won six straight games and 11 of 12 before dropping the finale of the road trip 128-118 at the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. "Oh, it was a great trip," Clippers coach Doc Rivers told reporters. "I would have taken 3-1 before we left. But we were greedy and would have loved to have gotten them all. But, a 3-1 road trip out East. ... We go home (and) we have one road game left (at Golden State on April 7) for the rest of the season, which is nice. We get our legs under us. It'll be great." The Cavaliers aren't fighting for much in terms of the standings but that hasn't stopped the players on the floor from battling, and they nearly pulled off an upset in a 116-110 loss at San Antonio on Thursday. "They're on their home floor and we kind of anticipated they'd make a run and we'd have to weather the storm," Cleveland coach Larry Drew told reporters. "I thought we did. We were right there until the end. We just didn't execute well down the stretch."
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Cleveland), FS Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (19-57): Cleveland dropped its last four games - all against teams ticketed for the postseason - and is looking for experience down the stretch. "We keep preaching experience," forward Larry Nance Jr. told reporters. "Have some guys on the team who haven't been in these situations before, so it's all something that you learn from and hopefully the next time you see it, you improve upon it." Rookie point guard Collin Sexton is making the most of his opportunity and scored 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting in Thursday's loss to reach 20 for the 10th time in the last 11 games.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (45-31): Rivers elected to sit leading scorer Lou Williams (20.3 points) to rest on Thursday and is trying to balance keeping his team healthy with aiming for the best possible seed. Los Angeles resides in sixth place in the West, a game behind the fifth-place Utah Jazz and one game up on both the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. The Clippers went 17-of-33 from beyond the arc on Wednesday without Williams but struggled on the defensive end, allowing the Bucks to shoot 52.3 percent from the floor.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Clippers rookie PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a team-high 21 points on Thursday for his first 20-plus effort since scoring 24 against Golden State on Jan. 18.
2. Nance recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds on Thursday - his first since March 6.
3. Los Angeles began its last road trip with a 110-108 victory at Cleveland on March 22.