The NBA season has reached its last stretch run and all teams have less than 20 games remaining on their schedules. The Memphis Grizzlies have 17 games remaining following their victory over the Phoenix Suns on March 10th at the FedExForum.
Their three-game winning streak has taken some of the sting away from their four-game losing streak last week, and winning all three games in clutch situations (games within five points with five minutes remaining) helped reverse their fortune of losing three of their previous four consecutive games on last-second shots.
With the fifth toughest remaining strength of schedule on tap, the Grizzlies can't afford many errors if they want to have homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Their victory last night kept them in line for that exact scenario.
The Grizzlies would be the fourth seed in the season ended today
The Grizzlies have been on the fourth seed line since March 1st after spending the majority of their season alternating between the second and third seed in the Western Conference. They are tied for third with the Los Angeles Lakers but have the lower winning percentage of the teams based on the differing records as the Grizzlies have played two more games.
Also, the Lakers have a 2-1 season series advantage that would give them the tiebreaker if the teams had the same record. The Grizzlies' victory last night was huge because it helped them avoid falling to fifth as the Houston Rockets remain one game behind them and would also have the tiebreaker with a 3-1 season series advantage.
if the NBA season ended today the Grizzlies would host a first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets. While their 1-3 record against Houston would give the Grizzlies pause, the youthfulness of the Rockets not being playoff battle-tested collectively would give the Grizzlies the advantage.
However, the Rockets starting point guard Fred VanVleet is an NBA champion and along with former Grizzlies starting small forward Dillon Brooks, could provide the necessary veteran leadership needed to help offset the inexperience of their best players. While that series would be one of the more entertaining series the Grizzlies would be expected to be in a dogfight.
Practically any matchup in the West will provide fireworks and can be open to interpretation of who is best equipped to challenge the number one-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. In this scenario, the winner of a Grizzlies-Rockets four vs five matchup would likely have to face the Thunder in the second round of the playoffs if all goes as expected.
The Grizzlies trail the Denver Nuggets by one game for the two-seed and would probably prefer that spot to secure homecourt advantage through the first and second rounds of the playoffs if they advance.