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Day 29 without sports 🏀: The Lakers, Clippers and what could have been an NBA playoff preview

Mark Medina   | Paste BN
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This should have been the time for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers to offer a playoff preview. 

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, however, NBA fans will be deprived of that fourth and final regular-season matchup. Instead, they will be resigned to either watching classic games on NBA TV or tuning into the NBA 2K Players Tournament on ESPN2. 

I would much rather see Clippers guard Patrick Beverley trash-talking on an actual court than with a joystick. Beverley’s presence would have become one of many reasons the Lakers-Clippers matchup at Staples Center on Thursday would have been must-see TV.

Beverley would try to agitate LeBron James, and just like he did last month, James would try to ignore Beverley’s antics while dominating on the court. Anthony Davis would try to prove no one on the Clippers could stop him, and Kawhi Leonard and Paul George would try to answer.

Not everything would have gone perfectly. The Lakers and Clippers rescheduled this game for Thursday after postponing the original matchup Jan. 28, two days after Kobe and Gianna Bryant were among nine people that died in a helicopter crash. Neither team was in a position to play a basketball game then. The same could have been said this week about the Lakers, who would have played on three consecutive nights on Tuesday (Golden State Warriors), Wednesday (Chicago Bulls) and Thursday (Clippers).

My hunch is the Lakers would have staggered rest games for their key players against Golden State and Chicago.

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The best alternative to this game is watching highlights of the last Lakers-Clippers matchup. Then, the Lakers were much better after losing the previous two matchups during the season opener and on Christmas Day. The most recent game took place on March 8, three days before the NBA suspended the season after Utah center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.

What to watch

NFL 

NFL Network will show the Indianapolis Colts-Denver Broncos game from Oct. 20, 2013, when Peyton Manning faced his former team for the first time. It will also show Super Bowl LIII between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, though anyone outside of New England might not want to see such a low-scoring affair.

MLB 

MLB Network has Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds (1:30 pm ET, 10:30 pm ET). Before the encore, the network is showing the classic “Bull Durham” at 8 pm ET.

NHL 

NBC Sports Network will show Game 5 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final between the New York Rangers and the Los Angeles Kings.

NHL Network will re-air various Game 7 Stanley Cup Final games. That includes 2009 between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings (10 am ET), 2001 between New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche (6 pm ET) and 1994 (Vancouver Canucks at New York Rangers, 8 pm ET).

NBA 

Without any real games, the only chance to see any live competition involves seeing NBA players compete on Xbox Live. The NBA 2K tournament will resume play on ESPN2. The matchups include Rui Hachimura vs. Devin Booker (7 pm ET), Derrick Jones Jr. vs Montrezl Harrell (8 pm ET), Trae Young vs Deandre Ayton (9 pm ET) and Beverley vs. Andre Drummond (10 pm ET).

If you prefer actual games, then go to NBA TV. It will air Game 5 of the 2004 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves (1 pm ET). It will then show the 2014 Eastern Conference semifinals between the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets (Game 4 at 3 pm ET, Game 4 at 4 pm ET).

Story time! Here are our best

April 9 in sports history

1912: The first exhibition baseball game took place at Fenway Park in Boston between the Red Sox and Harvard.

1913: The Brooklyn Dodgers’ Ebbets Field opened.

1932: The Maple Leafs swept the New York Rangers in three games in the Stanley Cup Final.

1935: The Montreal Maroons swept the Toronto Maple Leafs in three games in the Stanley Cup Final.

1941: PGA opens the Golf Hall of Fame.

1945: The NFL requires players to wear socks during games.

1946: The Montreal Canadians won the Stanley Cup Final after beating the Boston Bruins in five games.

1950: Golfer Jimmy Demaret became the first three-time Masters champion after beating Australian Jim Ferrier by two strokes.

1959: The Boston Celtics swept the Minneapolis Lakers in four games in the NBA Finals, the first of eight consecutive titles.

1960: The Celtics won their second consecutive title by beating the St. Louis Hawks in seven games.

1966: The California Angels open Angel Stadium.

1967: Gay Brewer wins his first and only Masters by beating Bobby Nichols by one stroke.

1978: In separate NBA games, Denver’s David Thompson scores 73 points and George Gervin scores 63.

1987: For the third time in his career, Wayne Gretzky scores seven points in a Stanley Cup playoff game (six assists, one goal) and surpasses Jean Beliveau as the all-time playoff scoring champion.

1995: Ben Crenshaw wins his second Masters title by beating Davis Love III by one stroke.

1997: Major League Soccer adds franchises in Miami and Chicago.

2000: Fijian Vijay Singh won the Masters by beating Ernie Els by three strokes.

2006: Phil Mickelson wins his second green jacket by beating Tim Clark by two strokes.

2013: The Connecticut women’s basketball team won its eighth national title by defeating Louisville, 93-60.

2017: Sergio Garcia won his first Masters after beating Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff.

Games we're missing

MLB

  • Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees 
  • Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
  • Arizona Diamondbacks at San Francisco Giants
  • Tampa Bay Rays at Cleveland Indians
  • Philadelphia Phillies at Cincinnati Reds
  • Atlanta Braves at Florida Marlins
  • Kansas City Royals at Toronto Blue Jays
  • New York Mets at Milwaukee Brewers
  • Boston Red Sox at Seattle Mariners

NBA

  • Detroit Pistons at Miami Heat
  • Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks
  • Sacramento Kings at Minnesota Timberwolves
  • Phoenix Suns at New Orleans Pelicans
  • Denver Nuggets at Portland Trail Blazers
  • Los Angeles Lakers at Los Angeles Clippers

Follow Paste BN NBA writer Mark Medina on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

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