The Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers get their first crack at the NBA’s new play-in tournament Saturday afternoon when the playoff hopefuls meet at Orlando for what may be the first of two straight days.
The Grizzlies (34-39) finished ninth and the Trail Blazers (35-39) eighth in the Western Conference in the regular season, earning a head-to-head matchup in which Portland, as the higher seed, had to be doubled. defeated in order to be denied the last playoff spot by the West.
If the Trail Blazers win Saturday, they would advance to a first-round playoff with the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers.
If the Grizzlies win, a rematch would be played Sunday, with that winner advancing to the Lakers.
Both teams commended impressive individual efforts to reach the play-in tournament in must-win games on Thursday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando.
The Grizzlies, playing without a star ahead of Jaren Jackson Jr., got triple-doubles from Jonas Valanciunas and Ja Morant in a 119-106 victory over Milwaukee.
The win was just Memphis’ second in eight games since the rematch.
“We are not going home,” Valanciunas said after the win. “We will fight until the last second.”
The Grizzlies and Trail Blazers will meet for the second time in Florida. Portland scored 33 points from CJ McCollum, 29 from Damian Lillard and 21 from Carmelo Anthony in a 140-135 victory in each team’s first game in the bubble on July 31st.
Jackson, who suffered a knee injury two games later, scored 33 points for Memphis.
The teams had met before, with the Grizzlies ruling 111-104 at home in February behind 27 points from Brandon Clarke. McCollum had 23 and Lillard 20 for Portland.
A Trail needed to not fall to 10th place and end its season in Thursday’s late game, the Trail Blazers got 42 points from Lillard in a 134-133 victory over Brooklyn.
“I would say we were happy (and) relieved,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said after the game. “We’re excited to be in the playoffs. We’re where we wanted to be. I don ‘t think anyone’s over the moon right now. no real time to celebrate. “
Portland has gone 6-2 since arriving in Florida.
Lillard completed the relegation for eight games as one of the top scorers in the bubble at 37.6 points per game, shooting 49.7 percent overall and 43.6 percent on 3-pointers. He added 9.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.
His opponent, Morant, got the All-Star better in assists with 9.9 per game in Florida, but shot just 39.4 percent overall and 22.5 percent on 3-pointers, while he averaged 19.0 points.
Still had a lot of success from behind the arc in their two previous meetings, with Lillard going 4-for-16 while rookie Morant struggled at 1-for-12.
–Field Level Media
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