A No-Win Situation?

On the opening tip tonight at FedEx Forum, will the Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies go after the ball?

OK, they probably will.

But with Western Conference postseason seedings still at stake in the season’s final days, it wouldn’t be surprising if the teams’ efforts did not meet their normal standards in these strange times for the two teams.

In an intriguing twist, the Clippers might benefit more from losing in this matchup of playoff-bound teams. They potentially would have a better first-round draw, including home-court advantage against the third-seeded Denver Nuggets, if they were seeded sixth instead of fifth, creating what seems to be an awkward situation.

“This isn’t our fault, we’re not doing anything wrong, but the league has put us in this position,” co-captain Elton Brand said Monday after practice. “The league has put people in position to have to answer these questions about seeding, first-round matchups and all of that.

“All I know is that we get the home-court [advantage] if we’re sixth, and we don’t get it if we’re fifth. I know something doesn’t seem right about that, but that’s just the way it is, and we’re working under the rules.”

The NBA is supposed to be all about winning, the Clippers said, but that’s not necessarily the way things work with the league’s playoff format. Each conference has three divisions, and the division winners get one of the top three seedings.

The team that finishes sixth in the West would avoid a first-round encounter against the fourth-place team, the formidable Dallas Mavericks, who have the second-best record in the conference but are in the same division with San Antonio, which clinched the West’s top mark with a victory over Utah on Monday.

“We’ve got to be sixth to have the home court, and we’d like to have the home court, so then we need to finish sixth. It’s that simple,” co-captain Sam Cassell said. “You could say that isn’t right, but life isn’t right, and this is how the minds of the NBA made it with this alignment.”

The Clippers (46-34) are a game behind Memphis (47-33) in the playoff standings, and each team has two games left in the regular season. The Grizzlies would clinch the fifth-seeded position with a victory over the Clippers tonight.

So maybe the Clippers and Grizzlies won’t hustle for every loose ball tonight, battle for every rebound or give it everything they have. And under the circumstances, would that be so bad?

“Well, I know I’m going out to give optimum effort,” Brand said. “That’s the only way I know how to play, and nothing is going to change that. Yeah, we know we have home-court [advantage] against Denver, but you still have to play hard.”

Even if the Clippers won tonight, there are other scenarios in which they could still finish sixth, including if they lost their final game, Wednesday at Dallas. The Clippers won the season series against Denver, 3-1, and are 0-3 against Dallas.

“Obviously, we would rather not play Dallas, and I think everyone knows that,” center Chris Kaman said. “But there’s too much pride on this team to just be dropping games. I know it looks bad because of the way we lost last night, I know what it looks like, but I know for a fact it wasn’t intentional.”

With Kaman and guard Cuttino Mobley sidelined because of injuries, the Clippers lost, 114-98, to the lowly Seattle SuperSonics on Sunday at Staples Center. The SuperSonics led by as many as 19 points in the first half and 30 after halftime.

In one stretch of the first half Sunday, the lineup included rookie guard Daniel Ewing, rookie forward James Singleton and rookie center Boniface Ndong.

Clipper assistant Kim Hughes, who previously worked for the Nuggets, received phone calls Monday from Denver officials, including former coach Doug Moe, who took good-natured jabs at the Clippers for their, ah, performance against Seattle.

Apparently, the Grizzlies also have been monitoring the Clippers.

“We’re playing to win,” Memphis forward Shane Battier said. “I’ve always been of the mind-frame that you’ve got to play.”

Again Monday, Coach Mike Dunleavy reaffirmed the Clippers also play to win.

“People keep saying that it would be better to finish here or there, but I keep saying be careful what you wish for because you might get it,” Dunleavy said. “We just want to be playing as well as we possibly can going into the playoffs.”

Of course, things would be different if playoff seedings were based only on records.

“It should be seeded accorded to record and go from there,” Dunleavy said. “It is what it is now, but that’s the way it should be in the future.”

TONIGHT

at Memphis, 5 PDT

Site -- FedEx Forum.

Radio -- 1150, 830.

Records -- Clippers 46-34, Grizzlies 47-33.

Record vs. Grizzlies -- 1-2.

Update -- Corey Maggette, sidelined the last six games because of a herniated disk, practiced with the team and is expected to play tonight or Wednesday, Dunleavy said.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Jockeying for position

The Clippers play at Memphis tonight at 5 PDT on Channel 5:

* What’s at stake: Fifth and sixth place in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies (47-33) are a game ahead of the Clippers (46-34). The Clippers finish the regular season at Dallas on Wednesday. Memphis plays the Timberwolves in Minnesota.

* Why six beats five: Whoever finishes fifth opens the playoffs on the road against fourth-seeded Dallas. The sixth-place team plays Denver (44-37), seeded third because it won the Northwest Division. Because the Clippers and Grizzlies have better records than the Nuggets, they will have home-court advantage.

CLIPPERS VS. MEMPHIS THIS SEASON

* Feb. 10: at Clippers 91, Memphis 87

* March 5: Memphis 102, at Clippers 86

* March 23: at Memphis 95, Clippers 85