How the Memphis Grizzlies can make the postseason
By Ethan Becker
Scenario One: Memphis makes the eighth seed
The first scenario, and the best for the Grizzlies, is for Memphis to head into the western conference play-in games as the eighth seed; but that may be harder for Memphis to do than it seems.
For this to happen, the first game outcome will need to be a win for the Grizzlies against the Milwaukee Bucks. If the Grizzlies lose, then the eighth seed is out of the question no matter the outcome of any other game.
The next thing that needs to happen is for the Portland Trail Blazers to lose their game against the Brooklyn Nets.
After both of these things happen, there’s a couple of different possibilities which would allow for Memphis to take the eighth seed. First, if both the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs lose, then Memphis has the eighth. The same goes for if the Spurs lose but the Suns win (Memphis has the tie breaker with a 3-1 head to head record).
If the Suns lose and the Spurs win, then things become a little more complicated. San Antonio and Memphis are tied in head to head record, so that tie breaker is out. The next one is the team that’s a division winner. Since neither the Spurs not the Grizzlies would be a division leader, that doesn’t count. So it comes to the third tie breaker measure: division record. Since the Spurs have a better division record than the Grizzlies, they’d take the tiebreaker.
However, there’s one more option: both the Suns and Spurs win. In that case, they’d be in a three-way tie for the eighth seed, and the three-way tie breaker rules go into effect. The first one is whoever is a division winner gets the tie breaker. Since no team is a division leader we move to the second tie breaker: head to head record among all tied teams.
The Suns and Spurs have both face the Grizzlies four times, and Memphis has a record of 5-3 among those games (2-2 against Spurs, 3-1 against Suns). However, the Suns and Spurs have only faced each other three times, and San Antonio has a 2-1 record in those games. Meaning they have a 4-3 record in all the head to heads, so if the Suns, Spurs, and Memphis all win and tie for eighth, the tie breaker goes to Memphis.
After that, Memphis would need to win one play-in game to make the playoffs.
GRIZZLIES MAKE EIGHTH SEED IF: They win AND Portland loses AND EITHER San Antonio loses OR Phoenix wins.