Thunderous Intentions
Fansided

Matt’s Monday Musings – OKC Thunder Shooting for Home Court and Fourth Seed

By Matthew Hallett

Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
OKC Thunder
Feb 3, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33) drives to the basket in front of Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams (12) during the second quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

Memphis Grizzlies

Before the end of the season, the Memphis Grizzlies play 11 times against playoff teams. This is a tough schedule for a team sitting sixth in the West. Few teams are already locked in to the playoffs, but Memphis is nine games ahead of the current ninth seed so they should be playing in the first round.

With their run home, they are probably not going to stay ahead of the OKC Thunder. The Thunder are only a game behind Memphis. Now, why do I think Memphis cannot stay in sixth? The stretch between March 15 and March 26.

The Run Home

In this stretch the Grizzlies play six games, four of them on the road. They start this stretch with an away game against the Chicago Bulls. As far as playoff teams to play this is not a bad one; the Bulls have been massively inconsistent all year. They also traded away Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott, essentially for Cameron Payne.

Must Read: Player Profile – Doug McDermott

I have the Grizzlies just winning this game. The problem is that the next night they travel to Atlanta to take on the Hawks. This is a tough back-to-back. Marc Gasol will be in for a rough night against Dwight Howard in this one.

They get a respite before playing their next game at home against the San Antonio Spurs. Actually, this is not a respite at all.

The next three games are away against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Spurs again, and they finish the trip playing the Golden State Warriors.

THUNDER: Five stats that correlate with Thunder wins/losses

Outside of these games, they play the Los Angeles Clippers, another game against the Spurs, plus a date with the OKC Thunder.

I can see the Grizzlies going 11-9 in their final 20 games, giving them an overall record of 47-35. If my prediction is accurate this means they will drop to seventh in the West.

Home/Thunder News