It’s now official; the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies are going to the Western Conference play-in tournament after both teams won on Thursday.
This means that, despite going undefeated in their eight games in the bubble, the Phoenix Suns are no longer in playoff contention. The Blazers are the eighth seed since they are up half a game on the Grizzlies, who settle into the ninth seed.
So what’s next? The teams will face off this weekend. If the Grizzlies end up winning both games, they will be going to the playoffs and facing the no.1 seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. Portland needs to only win one game to secure its playoff spot.
Led once against by Damian Lillard, who has been playing out of his mind over the last three games, the Blazers came from behind to beat the Brooklyn Nets in a game that came all the way down to the wire. Lillard scored 42 points with 12 of them coming in the clutch during the fourth quarter.
The Grizzlies secured the 9th seed by taking down the Milwaukee Bucks by a score of 119-106.
