OKC Thunder: Ranking difficulty of seeding schedules for all 22 teams
7th) Grizzlies – Cumulative opponent win total: 307
Seeding Game Record: 2-6, capture the ninth seed, and will play Portland. The play-in starts Saturday with Grizzlies having to win to force a second game on Sunday. The structure of the tourney favors Portland. Morant wasn’t happy about the play-in but the irony is they would’ve been eliminated already without it.
- Blazers 140 – Grizzlies 135 (July 31)
- Spurs 108 – Grizzlies 106 (August 2)
- Pelicans 109 – Grizzlies 99 (August 3)
- Jazz 124 – Grizzlies 115 (August 5)
- Grizzlies 121 – OKC Thunder 92 (August 7)
- Raptors 108 – Grizzlies 99 (August 9)
- Celtics 122 – Grizzlies 107 August 11)
- Grizzlies 119 – 108 Bucks (August 13)
Ja Morant has stated he doesn’t think how this whole play-in tournament decision was fair to his squad who built a 3.5 game lead prior to the hiatus. It’s hard not to align with his thinking. Like the OKC Thunder, no one expected this Grizzlies team to do what they’ve done.
Losing Justise Winslow to a hip injury was disappointing as I think he would’ve added a great dynamic to the young core.
But, the restart plan is what it is and in truth, the eight ‘seeded games’ while still among the most difficult isn’t as hard as the 17 games they would’ve had to play if the full season was played out.
The good news for the Grizzlies is they get ample opportunity to control their own fate. Their first three games are against chase pack teams — win them all and potentially make the play-in tournament a moot point.
Four of the five teams they face after game three are against the top four seeds. Again working in their favor is by the time they play Games 6, 7, and 8 versus the Raptors, Celtics, and Bucks those teams will likely have secured their seeds. If they have then they’ll be less likely to play their stars ‘playoff-type’ minutes. in fifth)