Doc Rivers believes quirky schedule could give his players some time to rest

Coach Doc Rivers was entertaining reporters prior to Thursday’s tip-off against the Dallas Mavericks, a game the Mavericks won 113-107 at Staples Center. He was asked if he plans on giving his players some rest before the playoffs begin in just more than two weeks

At this point, the Clippers appear to have little chance of their seed changing in the Western Conference standings with just five games left in the regular season. They are third, 2 1/2 games behind No. 2 Oklahoma City and 3 1/2 games ahead of No. 4 Houston.

“Now, we’ve got a break coming up in the schedule,” Rivers said. “It’s the quirkiest schedule I’ve ever seen. But I think it could play in our favor. I think we have two days off between each game all the way until the end of the year.

“I’ve never had that before; I want to know how that happened. So that’s really good, I think. The question is, do you use that as rest and make them play in games to stay sharp? But I don’t even know the answer. This is different.”

Rivers was almost right. Including Thursday’s game, the Clippers had two days off between each of the rest of their games except the last one, which will be played April 16 at Portland, the day after the Clippers host Denver.