Standing's stay the same. Who do we face in 1st round?

[mike3]

If we maintain where we are now (4th in west) who do we face? All standings staying the same?

Also, feel free to discuss our possible first round matchups and who we'd like to/wouldn't like to face.

[ejftw]

Memphis. Only way it changes if we win out and the Lakers drop two games so we can get up to third seed

[mike3]

That's gonna be tough. They're the team I didn't want to face. Hopefully something changes, what happens if lose 2 or so of there games? they're currently losing to Bobcats

[ejftw]

They'd need to lose out and the Mavs run the table in order to swap places

[mike3]

how do you guys think we'll go against Grizzlies?

I'm a bit worried bout them cause they are solid all round, obviously Gay is the guy we've gotta slow down but Mayo/Gasol/Randolph seem to play well against us too. Defense is key but I'd still be fairly confident against the Grizz for us to grind out a tough series win but its gonna be a close one, too close to call.

[ejftw]

Lakers just lost to the Spurs, so if we can win out and they split their final 2 games, we'll move up to #3.

As far as the Grizz, it'll be a close series, and come down to how well the Clippers rotate on D and how much they move around on offense. Can't be stagnant against them in the slightest.

[mkwest]

Grizzlies play Portland today. A win would put them within a half game of us and a loss would bump them back a game and a half. They're right on our tail with a favorable schedule. We simply cannot afford to lose any game the rest of the way.

The Grizzlies are a tough opponent for any team come playoff time. One thing that is interesting to me is that Randolph is still coming off of the bench. He and Gay have had some trouble adjusting to each other. The team seemed to play better when one was out. To overcome any compatibility issues, Z-Bo has come off the bench since returning from injury. He's accepting of the role for the time being, but has made it clear that he expects to be starting soon. For the Grizzlies, it's better that he come off of the bench and especially with the playoffs only a week away. They don't need to make a sudden change and potentially throw everything off. If they plan to start Randolph during the playoffs, then they need to make their move today.

If we play them at home, I like our chances. On the road, it's probably a different story. They aren't the best outside shooting team (7th worst in the league, 33% on the season) whereas we the 5th worst at defending the 3. Mayo, Conley and Arenas are their only true threats from deep. The teams are fairly equal in terms of rebounding on the season. They lead the league in forced turnovers. Last year, they had 3 players put up around 2 steals per game. Each one of their starters is averaging at least 1. We're one of the better teams (most of the time) at holding onto the ball and limiting our turnovers. In the 3 games we've played, we've averaged slightly under our season average with 12.3 tpg. The game we lost, we only had 10 turnovers to their 18, but we were killed on the boards 48-36 and put up miserable shooting percentages (40.5 FG%; 22.2% or 4/18 from 3). Whoever we play, rebounding is a must and our shooters need to help open things up on the offensive end. A match-up would be a great test, but not necessarily the end of the world for us.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

At this point I'm getting the feeling that we will play the Grizzlies either at home or on the road. They won and for us to move up we have to win out and Lakers need to lose.

[ejftw]

Technically, since we have the tie-breaker, Memphis is 1.5 games back instead of 5 since they need to finish a game ahead of us to take home-court. I still think we can win out, despite the last two being back to back in Atlanta and New York, it comes down tomorrow nights game between the Lakers and Thunder. If Lakers win, then Memphis will be our opponent