8-11-20 NBA Seeding Games

[Mamba Mentality]

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Major seeding implications for todays games...

-San Antonio in a must win against a Houston team that can still catch Denver. Houston will have no Harden.

-Phoenix tries to stay undefeated and claim the 8th or 9th seed against a Philly squad that can move up to 5th. Sixers could be missing their entire starting lineup.

-Boston should be going all in against Memphis for draft benefits while the Grizzles desperately need a win to stay alive.

-Dame vs Luka should be one hell of a shootout with Portland battling for the 8th seed and Dallas trying to catch Utah and ultimately avoid the Clippers in the first round.

[13th Man]

Good summary of the seeding implications thanks.

[13th Man]

I think SA beats Houston. #4 seems to be a coveted spot to face a "safe" #5 first round and to avoid the Clippers 2nd round. SA needs to win, Houston doesn't seem to be chomping at the big for #3.

Phoenix Should beat the Sixers. It would be a real shame if the Suns go undefeated and still do not make it to the playoffs, why invite them into the bubble in the first place? Sixers are banged up, they have little incentive to try to claw ahead of the Pacers for #5. Either way they would have a tough 1st round matchup between the Celtics or Heat.

Memphis probably thought they had a gimme until they realized that Boston owns their 2020 1st rnd conditional pick. It would still be in Celtics' best interest to try to knock the Grizzlies out as they would have a 93% of claiming that pick. Will be a good game with high implications.

Blazers/Mavs is an interesting game as well. I think the Blazers should take this, they want and need it more. I don't think the Mavs will fight tooth and nail to avoid the Clippers only to have to face a surging Nuggets team or possibly even the Rockets instead.

[BNM]

Great day to sit in front of the TV and watch some basketball. The 2:00, 4:30, 5:00 and 6:30 games all have serious playoff implications. This whole play-in concept has worked out great with 4 teams all within 1 game of each other batting for those two spots in the West.

[Richard4444]

Will Rockets, Sixers, Dallas, and Celtics play with all starters today?

[OkcSinceSGA]

SA, Phoenix, Boston, Dallas is who I'm rooting for today, and TBH they should all be favored vs the opponents based on who is sitting out etc.

[Young Stapler]

[Young Stapler]

[BNM]

SA, Phoenix, Boston, Dallas is who I'm rooting for today, and TBH they should all be favored vs the opponents based on who is sitting out etc.

As a POR fan, I'm going with: HOU, PHI, BOS and POR.

As a LAC fan, I'm a little surprised you aren't pulling for POR to capture the 8th seed as they will give the Lakers a tougher first round match up than any of the other three teams still in the running for the 8th spot. With Nurk and Collins back, plus Whiteside, POR can match the Lakers' size, and Dame is the best player of anyone on the 4 teams fighting for that 8th spot.

[youngthegiant]

I have a feeling either Portland or Phoenix is losing today.

[RaptorsLife]

With sixers lose today

East first round would be set

Bucks/magic

Raptors/nets

Celtics/sixers

Heat/pacers

[NyKnicks1714]

There's so much inter-connectivity between these last games. If Portland beats Dallas tonight, Dallas will have nothing to play for when they play Phoenix on Thursday, so you have to imagine they'd rest Luka and KP. Portland will beat Brooklyn, so you're likely looking at 2-0 finishes for both Portland and Phoenix.

If Dallas wins tonight, they have a chance to get into 6th and avoid the Clippers on Thursday. The Jazz and Spurs play right after them, so the Mavs won't have the chance to wait and see if Utah loses.

If the Spurs can beat a Harden-less Rockets team today I like their chances to beat a struggling Jazz team on Thursday. I also like Memphis to win at least 1 game vs. Celtics and Bucks teams who have nothing to play for, but I could see them losing both.

I'm predicting 8)Grizz and 9)Spurs or 8)Spurs and 9)Blazers

[13th Man]

With sixers lose today

East first round would be set

Bucks/magic

Raptors/nets

Celtics/sixers

Heat/pacers

This looks good to me.

[PrinceCliche]

Brooklyn's "C" team up by 17 at the half and playing very well.

[phanman]

2 relatively predictable games:

- Houston vs Spurs would have had some implications for the Rockets but Harden & House are both sitting today. They are 1 full game behind Denver so would have had to win their remaining 3 to surpass Denver for that 3rd seed. Spurs obviously want to force that play-in so the incentive is there to get the W. I think Pop has the game plan to shut down a Westbrook led Houston squad.

- Phoenix vs Philly is really a team on fire vs potentially a g-league squad with Simmons, Embiid and Richardson confirmed out and Horford + Tobias GTDs. I would be surprised if they played considering they are missing 3 core starters. Especially on the first night of b2b. PHX as a -9.5 currently is pretty indicative of this one is going to turn out

2 highly competitive game:

- Boston vs Memphis should entertaining as hell. It is rare to have a match-up with real implications on both sides in different conferences. As the poster previously stated, Boston wants to do everything for Memphis to miss the playoffs and move up in the 2020 draft(1-6) for an unprotected pick in 2021. Memphis is now down to only a .5 lead over Portland in that 8th seed. I really don't see how Memphis pulls this out one with the abundance of defenders they can throw on the likes of Morant and Brooks.

The Dallas vs Portland game is super interesting as the Mavericks are still alive for that 6th seed even if the chances are slim. Utah is a full game ahead with the tie-breaker and only the Spurs left to finish the bubble game. The ability to avoid the Clippers in the first round is huge. Portland believe it or not is only .5 game behind Memphis for that 8th seed. Memphis has the tough game ahead of them and winning out here + the guaranteed W against the Nets could help them slide up.

[LoneyROY]

First time watching the Spurs in the bubble...

Derrick White's jersey "Enough White".

[phanman]

What the when did DeMar get that Joker tatoo?

[Crives]

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[scrabbarista]

Spurs are the first team Houston has played in the bubble who has given them a taste of their own medicine: forcing turnovers and hitting threes. Also, Houston has actually posted up more than SAS (all Russ). Weird game.

[itrsteve]

I wish we had a 7-10 play-in for 7&8 every year. So many damn interesting battles for the play-in

Would love to see PHX, POR and SAS all get in the playoffs. Would be cool to see Ja get in but he’ll plenty of opportunities.