DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - The Western Conference is a tough place. Any team in the playoff picture, whether it is the eight seed, or the one seed, has a chance to advance to the second round.
That said, it is obviously ideal to face some teams rather than others, and according to Mavs forward Dorian Finney-Smith, the Los Angeles Clippers might just be guilty of working the system in their favor in that regard.
On Thursday, Finney-Smith was a guest on the Jim Rome Show, telling the CBSSports host that he believes the Clippers may have tanked in order to land the Mavericks, and not the Lakers or Blazers, as their first-round matchup.
"Either they were trying to get us, or they were ducking somebody else," Finney-Smith told Rome when asked about the Clippers losing their final two games of the season to Houston and Oklahoma City. "If they tanked those two games to play us, you know, yea. It is what it is. We want this matchup just as much as they want it."
The Mavericks and Clippers are set to face off in the first game of a seven game series on Saturday at 3:30 pm CT.
You can listen to the full interview with Rome and Finney-Smith here.