Clippers 'Fully Healthy' and 'Ready to Go' Before Game 1 vs. Mavericks, Ty Lue Says

Ahead of their first game in the 2021 playoffs, the Los Angeles Clippers are at full strength.

Head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters Saturday his team was "fully healthy" and "ready to go" for Game 1 against the Dallas Mavericks.

The Clippers seemingly did everything in their power at the end of the regular season to manipulate their seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George sat out the final two games, and Marcus Morris Sr., Rajon Rondo and Nicolas Batum didn't play in Sunday's finale.

Los Angeles lost those games to the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, the worst two teams in the West, and fell to fourth in the conference.

There was speculation the Clippers were trying to get the No. 4 seed in an effort to stay away from the side of the bracket with the Los Angeles Lakers, whom they'd now face in a potential matchup in the Western Conference Finals.

Lue disputed that notion during a press conference this week.

"I don't give a damn what anybody else thinks on the outside," Lue told reporters Tuesday. "We decided to go health over anything else. We finally got our team healthy, and that is what we focused on."

The Clippers will face the Mavs in a rematch of a first-round series last year. Los Angeles advanced in six games but was eliminated in the second round by the Denver Nuggets after taking a 3-1 lead in that series.

Game 1 between the Mavericks and Clippers will tip off at Staples Center at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday.