Grizzlies Playoff Watch

[SD2042]

Currently the Grizzlies are sitting in 8th place in the Western Conference Playoff Race.

Spurs 51-22
Mavs 45-16
Lakers 45-19
Thunder 38-22
Nuggets 37-36
Hornets 36-28
Blazers 34-27
Grizzlies 34-29

Personally, I feeel the Grizz should do what they can to get to either the 5th or 6th spot in the race. It's attainable, but it's easier said than done. With 19 games remaining, the Grizz March schedule has them meeting 9 teams with records over 500 with the Knicks who they will meet twice. They must be on point on winning the attainable games along with the tough games like Dallas, SA, NYK, Boston, and Chicago later this month if they wish to remain in the playoff hunt.

[xRapHeadx]

Just 1 1/2 games out of 5th...The defensive surge has been really impressive.

[jefe]

Looks to be a tight race to the end. So long as we make the playoffs, I like our match up against any of the top 4 teams about equally - we just have to make the playoffs first.

[jefe]

Status of head-to-head tiebreakers:

The Grizz have the tiebreaker against Phoenix (2-1).

The Grizz do/will not have the tiebreaker against New Orleans* (0-2), Denver (1-2), and Houston (1-3).

The tiebreaker with Portland will be decided on 4/12 @ Portland

The Grizz have the tiebreaker against OKC and Dallas

*Grizz could win the remaining two games against New Orleans, the next tiebreaker is division win-loss percentage; currently the Grizz are 5-8 in division games and New Orleans is 7-4.

[SD2042]

The Grizz had always had problems vs. NOLA due to NOLA's athleticism and failing to slow them down in transition offense. It would be great if the Grizz can beat them twice when they meet again later.

[jefe]

Didn't mention it in the earlier post, but seems appropriate given their recent surge - Houston has the tiebreaker over us. So we better keep winning!

[SD2042]

Update

Spurs 57-16
Lakers-52-20
Mavericks-51-21
Thunder 47-24
Nuggets 44-29
Blazers 42-30
Hornets 42-31
Grizzlies 41-33

OUTSIDE THE RACE

Rockets 38-35
Suns-36-35
Jazz 36-38

Here's the deal:

Grizz got 8 games remaining.

Best case scenario: 7-1 with single loss to PDX/6-2 with losses to one NOLA and PDX games.
Worst case scenario 5-3 Potential losses with NOLA twice and Portland.

Either way the Grizz must clamp down and win the majority of their games to solidify their playoff run to meet the Lakers(most prefer). If both Blazers and Hornets struggle while catapulting the Grizz to the 6th spot. They could face the Mavs. Either way i better than facing the Spurs.



NOLA has 9 games left

Best case scenario: 5-4 Potential losses: Lakers, Rox, Grizz, Mavs
Worse case scenario: 4-5 Potential losses: Lakers, Rox, Pacers, Grizz, Mavs

Either way, I think the Hornets will struggle a bit especialy with the loss of David West. Puts more pressure on CP3 to deliver the goods plus making his teammates needing to step up more. The question is how strong are they mentally with the last few games coming down?

PDX has 10 games left

Best case scenario: 7-3 Potential losses: Thunder, Spurs Lakers
Worst case scenario: 6-4 Potential losses: Thunder, Spurs, Grizz, Lakers

PDX has an up and down schedule the rest of the way. The keys with the Blazers will be how durable they will be going the rest of the way and will they be able to win the games they know they must win to maintain their stay for the 6th spot.

[GrizzledGrizzFan]

Magic number is now 1!

[VanCityRaps]

Congrats Grizz fans. Feel really happy for TA.

[mid-post]

Playoffs!!!!

[SKR]

I'm really happy for the Grizzlies!

[It_Was_Typed]

#GritGrind

[jefe]

It's official - Grizz are in the playoffs. Here's the situation heading into the final week of the regular season.

Current standings (4/09/11)

6. Portland: 47-33
7. Nola: 46-33
8. Memphis: 45- 34

Remaining Schedules

Portland: Memphis 4/12, @Golden State 4/13
Nola: @Memphis 4/10, Utah 4/11, @Dallas 4/13
Grizz: Nola 4/10, @Portland 4/12, @Clippers 4/13

Tiebreakers
Nola>Grizz, Nola>Portland, Portland-Memphis TBD on 4/12


In short, the sixth and seventh seeds are still in play. Due to the advantage in tiebreakers, it would seem that Nola has the best shot to grab the six spot; however, if the Grizz can take care of business against both Nola and Portland, then I think the 6th is ours.

[Downtown]

The Grizzlies earned their playoff spot and deserve to be there. Any of us that have followed them know that they did a terrific job this year in shoring up the areas that held them back last year from making that next step.

Getting some contribution from the bench in the last quarter of the season, learning how to close out fourth quarters, and getting a couple of veterans that bring those intangibles were all things that we discussed from the start.

While I'm still cheering them on to finish as high as they can, I honestly don't care who they play in the first round. They have proven that when they are firing on all cylinders they can beat any team in the league.

[SD2042]

Spurs 61-20
Lakers-56-25
Mavericks-56-25
Thunder 54-26
Nuggets 50-31
Blazers 48-33
Grizzlies 46-35
Hornets 46-35


Lakers get the Kings tomorrow. Possible they might rest their players and slip back to # 3 and play the Blazers in the playoffs. If they win, they get the #2 spot and they will play the Grizzlies.

Mavs play the Hornets on Wednesday. If they win, they get the #2 spot and play the Grizzlies. If they lose, then the Blazers they will play.

If the Grizz beat the Clips tomorrow with the Hornets losing. they wll play the Lakers/Mavs winner of the #2 spot. If they lose and the Hornets win, they draw the Spurs.

If the Hornets win, they may play the Lakers/Mavs winner of the #2 spot. If they lose, they draw the Spurs.