Teams can miss the playoffs for a variety of reasons. Yet even when none of those booby-traps undermines a team’s NBA season, there always is another one lurking: Math. Sometimes worthy teams simply butt up against too many other postseason-worthy teams. And run out of games.

That would seem to be part of the LA Clippers’ problem as it tries to chase down a spot in the Western Conference. We’re not ruling out any of the ills cited in the first paragraph, but the challenge facing coach Doc Rivers and his crew now can be counted in the number of rival playoff aspirants, the games separating those teams in the standings and how few opportunities remain for the Clippers to do anything about it.

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times could count those problems on one hand after the Clippers lost Sunday against Indiana. When the Clippers woke up Monday, five teams were separated by three games for the West’s final three berths:

The Clippers have five games left in the regular season to make one last push for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. They are in a tight race with the Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans and Denver Nuggets for the final two playoff spots.

“The scenario has been consistent,” [guard Lou] Williams said. “It’s half our responsibility and half some other team’s responsibility. We got to concentrate on the things that we can do in order to put ourselves in the best position possible. So we just got to go out and play hard.”

…

“We need to go five for five,” said Danilo Gallinari, referring to how many wins the Clippers must have to participate in the postseason.

“If we don’t go five for five, we won’t make the playoffs. It’s very simple. So, even if going five-for-five, I don’t think that percentagewise for the playoff possibility is good. But we got to go five for five, and I think hoping that other teams lose.”

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