With four and four remaining seeding games, Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts found similarities between the six teams battling for post-season position in the Western Conference on Thursday night.
“We all play the same way,” he said after Damian Lillard poured 45 points to lead Portland’s 125-115 win over the Denver Nuggets. “We all play along [the idea] That there is only one place for us and that we have to play like that. “
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Stotts admitted that “the math is a little easier” after all six teams battling for last place in the playoffs in the West hit half the point in the seeding games, which is a potential box office scenario between # 8 and No. 1 could determine. 9 seeds. However, what played out in the four seeding games for each of these teams suggests a difficult yet fun path, especially for the three teams (Memphis, New Orleans and Sacramento) that emerged from those first four games with record losses.
Blazers, suns hurry up
When the NBA restart began at Walt Disney World, Memphis held eighth place, followed by (in order) Portland, Sacramento, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Phoenix.
The surprising Suns remain the only undefeated roster during the restart among contenders for eighth place after beating the Indiana Pacers on Thursday with a 114-99 win. That win was fueled by another strong performance from Devin Booker (20 points and 10 assists), who averages 28 points and 6.5 assists on restart.
Booker continues to receive many recent contributions from Deandre Ayton and Cameron Johnson.
“We came with the right approach every day,” said Booker. “Trainer [Monty Williams] always says the word “approach” and since the first day we were here, [in] The drills we did hard and the few games we played kept us together and made some big wins. “
Phoenix is in tenth place in the conference standings, but only two games behind the Grizzlies in eighth and 1 1/2 behind Portland in ninth.
“We are human, right?” Williams said. “We’re looking at that stuff. But it’s not always the main focus. Everyone’s goal is to get to the playoffs, but there are things we have to do to get there. So we’re just trying to dial into these things. If we take care of these things, we may have a chance. That’s our mentality. We are grateful to be here.
“We are humble about the opportunity and still attack. These guys want it. I don’t have to wind anyone up. This is our DNA. This is who we are. We play hard every night. We compete against each other.” Each night. We defend. We share the ball. That is the identity, and we don’t want that to change. “
Grizzlies don’t give up hope
The injury-related Grizzlies, meanwhile, lost each of their first four seeding games, including the first three, to teams chasing them for final playoff spot in the west. Memphis’ situation only worsened after a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. Jaren Jackson Jr. suffered a torn meniscus that will put him out for the remainder of the season.
The loss to Utah on Wednesday gave the Grizzlies their fifth straight win and they lost 11 of their last 15 games in February.
The Grizzlies allowed opponents to shoot 41% from depth in their first four seeding games. Even so, they barely cling to that eighth place despite stepping into the NBA bubble with some pillow.
“The media [is] will [say]Well, they had that head start. Now they have that head start and someone is coming to take it over, ”said Ja Morant, the guardian of the Grizzlies. “We can’t pay attention to that. All that will result is that we try to put pressure on ourselves, which we don’t have to. We’re learning from everything we’re going through and have four more games to play. We’re only going to attack these four games. “
Portland drew the Grizzlies in half a game by knocking down the Nuggets, but San Antonio and Phoenix are close behind Memphis in the standings.
“I was hoping we’d play better and not get injured,” said Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins. “In a stretch of four games in which we are 4-0 and didn’t win, everything is enlarged. It didn’t shake our way. But our boys keep getting better. We learn a lot from game to game. I don’t have to keep talking to them about, “Keep your spirits up.”
“We obviously miss JJ … But these guys keep fighting. We had chances in four games in a row. This is thanks to these people who are united regardless of our depth map. “
You need to keep moving as the battle for Memphis doesn’t worsen until Friday when it comes to Oklahoma City (4 p.m. ET, NBA TV).
Pelicans, kings and spurs are about to climb
New Orleans stepped into the NBA reboot as one of the favorites to squeeze into eighth place behind rookie sensation Zion Williamson and veteran guard Jrue Holiday. However, the Pelicans have stumbled to 1-3 in their first four seeding games and to 3-6 since March, dropping 120 or more points in five of those six losses.
Williamson lost 24 points in 10-of-12 in 22 minutes in Thursday’s loss to Sacramento, which eventually won its first restart game. Interestingly, New Orleans is 5-0 this season with Williamson playing less than 25 minutes. But Williamson isn’t sure if or when the team plans to increase their minutes.
“I can’t really answer that question right now,” he said. “I have to talk to the coaches, talk to the staff and see where everyone is.”
The problem for New Orleans is that it wants to take a long-term approach to managing Williamson’s logs after it missed time due to exiting the NBA bubble deal with a family matter. Pelicans vice president David Griffin has made it clear that the team will not sacrifice Williamson’s long-term health in this fight to make it to the postseason for the first time since 2018.
The Pelicans gave up 49 points in the first quarter when they lost to the Kings on Thursday.
“No, we have no margin for error,” said Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry, who stood with his arms crossed during his nearly six-minute post-game interview at Zoom. “I don’t think we care. I think our guys really care. They understand the urgency we are in right now. Nothing is easy down here. “
Although the Spurs have won two of their first four games of the reboot and are missing three starters in LaMarcus Aldridge, Bryn Forbes and Trey Lyles, they seem to have great chances of getting into the starting line-up with DeMar DeRozan in the postseason for the 23rd NBA season Episode.
Given the lineup limitations and relative youth, San Antonio entered the fresh start to develop its youth for the future. The Spurs are 14-23 against teams with records better than .500 after falling to Denver on Wednesday. Third year Derrick White has scored 20 or more points in three of the team’s first four seeding games while other young players like Lonnie Walker IV, Keldon Johnson, and Dejounte Murray continue to gain valuable experience.
“This whole approach is all about them,” said veteran security guard Patty Mills. “It’s their job to play meaningful games, develop the ways they can grow into, and the potential they have. Look, two defeats in a row are of course the result, but I think we play good basketball. The style we play is good and the guys are getting better. For me it’s a big picture. It’s not great to say after a loss because you always want to win.
“But if you understand where we’ve been, where we’re going, and what process we’re doing, and where we’re trying to be. And this group is being put together to go out there and do the work with what we have. It’s a process and everyone understands this process. “
With regard to Trail Blazer, Stotts was quick to point this out The reality that “there are so many teams in the thick of the action that no one comes close to a magic number” in terms of the number of wins it takes to ultimately secure a post-season berth.
The six teams contested in the west will have four more opportunities to prevail in the coming days.
Lillard wanted that all along.
Lillard told Yahoo’s Chris Haynes in May that he didn’t want to play unless his team got at least the chance to advance into the postseason once the NBA resumed the season. Now that Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins are fully back on the roster, the odds seem as good for Portland as anyone else.
“I’m always optimistic and always see the best in situations, especially in such a situation,” said Lillard. “That’s why I said what I said months ago when I said that I don’t want to play if we don’t have a chance to fight for a place in the playoffs. Because I knew that if we had the chance to play for a playoff spot, it would look something like what it looks like now, because we’re a healthier team, we’re more rested.
“I knew that once we got here we would be one of the teams that would benefit and so far we are.”
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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can send him an email Here , find his archive Here and follow him on Twitter .
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