All 6 teams battling for the 8/9 seed are within 4 games now and a play-in tournament seems like a certainty. Who you got making the playoffs? I personally think Memphis will drop out of the 8th. San Antonio and Portland will battle for the 8 seed and the Spurs will get it.
Portland is definitely the best of the pack, but they have almost no chance. Their schedule is really hard and they already lost some ground. I think betting against the spurs its an easy way to loose money. They are not a great a team, but i feel they will end up with the 8th seed.
Pelicans have the easy schedule but they will probably lose , same with sac, gonna be a fun to see who squeeks in, ya i can see why alot of people think portland, cause they have the better team, but im gonna go out on a limb and say pelicans with motivation to make the playoffs and zion.
It would be cool if Memphis, Portland, and New Orleans could somehow play for the last spot. I haven't looked at standings or remaining schedules, but I predict it will be New Orleans and Portland playing for the final spot.
I guess it is a best of 2 among the 8th and 9th seed. 8th just need to win 1, 9th 2 games. Jaren Jackson is out and Memphis would be lucky to win 2 games along the way.
no chance? they're sitting in the 9th spot. they probably have the best chance at this point with memphis losing JJ jr, they're likely going to drop out of the 8/9 spot completely. Leaving 2 spots open for the play in series for 8th seed.
I'm rooting for phoenix. They're playing very good basketball right now at the right time. A playoff series experience for Book and that young suns team would be great. I hope it comes down to portland/phx for the play in series.
When i posted this, the game against us wasn't done yet, and could have easily gone against them . But thats not the only factor, look at their schedule, its the hardest by far of the teams fighting for the 8-9 seed. They belong in the top 6, not only talent wise, but that roster, now that s its healthy its really good, but they got in such a deep hole that its going to be hard for them to comeback. I hope they do, coz nobody wants to see them in the playoffs, they are a scary team for LA, especially since they got the size to match them and the lakers got nobody to guard Dame and CJ. Ill love to see that matchup.
There really isn’t a “harder”. A casual person could look at Phoenix on the schedule and think that’s easy. Not realizing they’re the hottest team playing great basketball. It’s a bubble with special circumstances. Even when you posted it regardless if Portland won or loss they were still right there for the play in series. The hole isn’t deep at all.
I am never counting pop out! Ever! That man pulls rabbits out of his hat with nothing in front of him.
Who would give the Lakers the best series? Portland. Who would be the feel-good story? Phoenix. PHX would have to essentially win every single game leading into the playoffs - those during seeding to have a chance at the play-in, and the 1 or 2, depending on if they end up the 8th or 9th seed. You'd have a bunch of guys that make it into the playoffs for the first time, including Booker. PHX would get demolished by LAL, but it'd be fun to see what Booker and Ayton can do in 4-7 games.
one day, people will look back and say "if the suns would not have won so many games in the bubble, they would have been able to draft [generational talent player].