Clippers still on stage
NBA players will not play extra hard for their employer's improved first-round draft picks.
Players might even take it easier, because if winning down the stretch is the quickest way toward a top-five pick to replace me at half the cost, I'd probably miss a few free throws. Knock the selection down to No. 7 or 8, nothing certain, Coulibaly-territory, Clinganville, nobody to take MY job.
The Pacers outscored the visiting Clippers 42-21 in the first quarter on Friday, doubled 'em up. The more wins the Pacers pluck, the better the Clipper odds at securing a hot-stuff draft pick with the Pacers' first-round pick in June. The Clippers want nothing to do with that, and outscored Indiana 93-71 the rest of the way, won the game.
It wasn't as simple as this, of course. Kawhi Leonard got to his spot and cashed a game-winner with four-tenths of a second left, simple, but then the referees decided to call everything literally for the final four-tenths (of a second), which took 515 seconds of real time.
