I posted this thought last night. Now this is only my opinion, so take it FWIW, but here goes...
right now the Clips are in the 5th spot. If they stay in that spot they will face Dallas in the first round. They are 0-2 this year against Dallas, and one of those games was a blowout. If they fall down to the 6th spot they would play Denver, who they were 3-1 against this year. Two of those games were blowouts in favor of the Clips. Last night they got hammered by 17 against the Lakers, on the same floor they play their home games. Like I said last night I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I have to think the Clippers players and coaches know that if they win games down the stretch it could end up coming back to bite them in the ass.