Adam Silver is right when he says the NBA bubble was better than expected, but sadly, even the ever popular league commissioner couldn’t orchestrate the perfect play-in tournament.
The final day of the regular season has started as overwhelmingly as expected, with an underutilized Bucks cast unable to strike the Grizzlies.
Outside of Memphis, there is hardly a basketball fanatic who wanted the Grizz to finish ninth in the west and earn a place in the play-in tournament, but that’s exactly what happens.
Yes Morant’s team will almost certainly play Portland too. The Blazers only have to take out one team from Brooklyn Nets (11 a.m. CEST) without having to play anything to finish eighth overall.
That lets the glowing Phoenix Suns (7: 0 in the bubble) and the similarly impressive San Antonio Spurs (5: 2) look inside from the outside.
The Suns beat the Mavericks in their final game, but a perfect record since the restart of the season won’t be enough to earn postseason action.
Instead, we get Portland versus Memphis and the Blazers only have to win the first game between the two teams to end a first-round bout against the Lakers.
As a sub-team, the Grizzlies must win twice in a row to advance.
You can follow the live results in the scoreboard above.
NBA PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT
Game 1 – Sunday, August 16 at 4:30 a.m. EDT
Game 2 – Monday, August 17 at 6:30 a.m. CEST (if required)
.
