Tuesday will be a wild time in the NBA.
The Portland Trail Blazers, along with the other three teams vying for the No. 8 in the Western Conference playoffs, they will all be in action.
As it stands, ninth-place Portland (33-39) must win their last two games against Dallas (43-30) on Tuesday and Brooklyn (34-36) on Thursday to ensure he doesn’t finish worse than ninth and force a play round. -in with team number 8.
If Portland loses one of the next two, she would need help staying alive.
The eighth place is Memphis (33-39). The Grizzlies, who have a mid-game lead over Portland, close on Tuesday against Boston (47-23) and Thursday against Milwaukee (55-15). Neither Eastern Conference contender has anything to play for yet and will likely rest the stars, which could definitely help the Grizzlies’ chances of winning both games and retaining eighth place.
The Blazers are clinging to ninth only halfway through the race ahead of Phoenix (32-39) and San Antonio (31-38). The Suns went 6-0 on Monday from shooting in the NBA bubble after demolishing Oklahoma City, 128-101.
Phoenix plays in Philadelphia (42-28) on Tuesday. The 76ers, who have lost All-Star forward Ben Simmons (knee) for the season, will also be without center Joel Embiid, who left Sunday’s game against Portland in the first quarter due to an ankle injury. .
The Suns closed the regular season on Thursday against Dallas, who won 122-114 on Monday over Utah (43-28) in a game in which both teams sat down or played the stars sparingly.
Luka Doncic drives around Hassan Whiteside as the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA game at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on Thursday, January 23, 2020. Sean Meagher / Staff
Dallas didn’t play Luka Doncic or Kristaps Porzingis against the Jazz to rest them in the front of a back-to-back. Dallas manager Rick Carlisle said before his team’s game that both stars were healthy and that he rested them to train their minutes. The Mavericks have played three additional games since the restart.
Carlisle stressed that the league does not want teams to sit stars for nationally televised matches. Tuesday’s game against Portland will be on TNT, as well as NBCSports Northwest, so expect Doncic and Porzingis to play the Blazers.
There are numerous potential playoff scenarios at play for Portland. Too many to list. But what matters most to the Blazers is that they stay ahead of Phoenix and San Antonio.
The leaderboard is set based on the win percentage, which lines up with the return matches. The Blazers cannot end in a draw with any of the remaining teams.
| THE RACE FOR THE EIGHTH Team | WL | Win Pct. | GB | Games left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8. Memphis | 33-38 | 0.465 | – | 2 |
| 9. Portland | 33-39 | .458 | 0.5 | 2 |
| 10. Phoenix | 32-39 | 0.451 | 1 | 2 |
| 11. San Antonio | 31-38 | 0.449 | 1 | 2 |
If Portland ends 1-1, he can only miss the playoffs if Memphis wins at least once and Phoenix or San Antonio wins twice.
Portland could grab number 8 in the play-in round by winning twice with Memphis losing once, or going 1-1 and seeing Memphis losing twice and Suns and Spurs losing at least once.
Number 9 defeated Number 8 twice in the play-in round several times before losing once.
Yes, it’s all quite complicated. Conclusion for Portland: keep winning and everything will be fine.
– Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).
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