The Memphis Grizzlies are currently locked into a playoff seeding battle with a host of other teams vying for home court in the first round. They stand alone in the sixth seed as of this writing, but the possibility still exists for them to finish as high as third or as low as eighth. As always, the Western Conference is an absolute juggernaut.
With three games remaining on their schedule, each win will have the potential to vault the Grizzlies high up in the standings and each loss can plunge them down low. But in the end, what other teams do will be of extreme significance to Memphis' playoff hopes as well. And on Wednesday night, they got some big time help as the rest of the games around the league concluded.
One of the teams in close competition with the Grizzlies for a top-four seed is the Golden State Warriors, and Memphis' Western Conference foe suffered an unexpected loss at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs at Chase Center on Wednesday. After being up by as much as 14 points, Stephen Curry and company allowed Harrison Barnes to hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer that sent them to a 47-33 record, and put them one-half game behind the Grizzlies in the standings.
The Warriors' loss vaulted Memphis above Golden State
It was a major break for Memphis, especially given this was a game no one really considered Golden State could lose. Every minute matters in these final few games, and the Warriors' slip up sent them to the dreaded play-in range of the standings.
Obviously, the Grizzlies would really like to avoid having to win a game before making it into the playoffs for a number of reasons. The first being that it was not so long ago Memphis was sitting in the second seed in the West, ready to enjoy a potentially clear path to the Western Conference Finals. After a few weeks of struggles and injuries piling up, they are doing everything they can to avoid just being the seventh or eighth seed.
But secondly, there are some dangerous teams that could potentially end up in the play-in that the Grizzlies may not want to face. Just look at the Anthony Davis-led Dallas Mavericks, who can probably beat anybody in a one-off scenario. Then don't even get me started on the Minnesota Timberwolves, who were also in contention for the three seed up until a few days ago.
Memphis clearly needs as much help as they can get. Winning out would get them over the 50 wins mark, but the crazy thing is that would still not guarantee them a favorable situation in round one.