The Blazers will rest on Monday after a 124-121 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday that left Portland just half a game behind Memphis for the eighth seed in the Western Conference with two games left.
Going into the eight seed would be enormous for the Blazers. Not only does it give them more separation of the ten seed to give Portland a chance to play their way into the postseason, but it would make it so that the Blazers only have to win one play-in game instead of two.
Going into the bubble, ESPN’s BPI had Portland with only a 9% chance of getting the eighth seed in the Western Conference. That chance has more than tripled to 30.3%.
But, just because the Blazers are not playing today does not mean that the standings will not be affected.
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Here are the standings on Monday. UPDATED TO PHOENIX WIN OVER OKC ON MONDAY AND SPURS, SUNS WINS AND MEMPHIS LOSS ON TUESDAY.
Memphis Grizzlies Remaining Schedule: Milwaukee (Win Percentage: 0.458)
9. Portland Trail Blazers Rest Sheet: Dallas, Brooklyn (Win percentage: 0.458)
Phoenix Suns Remaining Schedule: Dallas (Win Percentage: 0.458)
11. San Antonio Spurs Rest Page: Utah (Win Percentage: 0.457)
Note: New Orleans and Sacramento were both eliminated from the Season Day context.
Notable games August 10:
Phoenix Suns vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Who do we want to win? Oklahoma City.
Line: Phoenix -7.5 Phoenix won 128-101.
With the Grizzlies, Trail Blazers and Spurs all on off-days, the Suns are the only team in the playoff race for the eighth seed to play on Monday. However, it should be an easy win for Phoenix due to OKC resting many notable players like Steven Adams, Danillo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous Alexander, and Nerlens Noel.
If Phoenix wins: They move into a tie for the tenth seed with San Antonio and would just stand a half game behind Portland with two games left for all teams.
If Phoenix loses: They will drop to one game and a half behind Portland for the ninth seed with two games remaining. The Suns would need Portland to lose to have a chance to get the ninth seed.
Notable Games August 11:
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Dallas Mavericks (3:30 p.m. PT):
Who do you want to win: Portland.
Encouraged to rest? Dallas rested multiple starters, including Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis against Utah on Monday, which was one of the few teams that could bring the Mavericks into the standings. However, they came back from 22 down to defeat the Jazz, putting them a full game behind Utah for the sixth seed.
San Antonio Spurs vs. Houston Rockets (11 a.m. PT):
Who do you want to win: Houston. San Antonio won 123-105.
Encouraged to rest? The Rockets will be 1.5 games behind Denver for the third seed and may play for the chance to go up and play the Utah Jazz, which eliminated Houston from the postseason run two years ago, in the first round instead of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Phoenix Suns vs Philadelphia 76ers (13:30 PT):
Who do we want to win? Philadelphia. Phoenix won 130-117.
Encouraged to rest? Ben Simmons has been ruled out indefinitely. Joel Embiid injured his left ankle against the Trail Blazers on Sunday and the Sixers have ruled him out for Tuesday’s game. Philadelphia, however, is just one backlog from the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat (who play each other Monday night) for the fourth seed that Boston would avoid in the first round. The Sixers cannot fall on the seventh seed.
Memphis Grizzlies vs. Boston Celtics (14:00 PT):
Who do we want to win? Boston Boston won 122-107.
Encouraged to rest? Boston is locked in the third seed in the Eastern Conference, but, head coach Brad Stevens said he has no plans to rest his starters for the rest of seeding games.
“You obviously want to have great health, but conditioning is a big part of that, so we want all of our primary boys to play at least twice out of three,” the Celtics coach told the Boston Herald after practice on Saturday. “All our sports science and everyone feels a whole week between games is enough – absolutely do not want more than that. We play our boys, nothing is set in stone yet, that’s how we will approach it. ”
Scenarios:
Portland wins eighth seed:
–Portland goes 2-0
-Portland goes 1-1, Memphis goes 0-1, San Antonio goes 0-1, Phoenix goes 0-1
Portland wins ninth seed:
-Portland goes 1-1, Memphis goes 1-0, San Antonio goes 0-1, Phoenix goes 0-1
Play-in-games schedule:
Game 1: Saturday, August 15 at 11:30 a.m. PT
Game 2 (if needed): Sunday, August 16 at 1:30 p.m. PT
Next up: The Portland Trail Blazers will play the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 3:30 p.m. PT here on NBC Sports Northwest.
