The playoff picture isn’t any clearer after the Nuggets beat the Clippers ast night. Now we have 3 teams all wanting the 3rd spot. The Clippers still have the upper hand because they are going to win their division and that is the first tie breaker when teams have the same record. Denver, many people would say, have the next best shot at the 3rd or 4th place. They play the most home games between the Clippers, Grizzlies and Nuggets. However, Denver has a harder schedule than Memphis or the Clippers. Of their last 19 games, 10 are against teams with a winning record and only 4 of them are an away game.
The Grizzlies don’t have an easy schedule the rest of March nor April. Not only do they play 14 of their remaining 23 games on the road, 5 of the road game teams have a winning record. The good side of that is that the Grizzlies play 6 of the games against winning teams at home. None the less, the road game that faces the Grizzlies March 12-16 is going to be just plan extra difficult. (I’ve highlighted it in green below.) 4 games in 5 nights and all against teams in the playoffs or trying to make the playoffs. I will be happy if Memphis can win 2 of the 4 games. But, we need to beat Denver so that the head-to-head games will be 2-2. Otherwise, Denver will have the tie breaker if they and the Grizzlies end the season tied.
The positives for the Grizzlies is that overall their schedule is easier than most, only OKC, LAC and HOU is easier. The Clippers seem to have the easiest schedule among these 8 teams and Houston is next with the 2nd easiest schedule. Enjoy checking out the schedule. (Top 8 teams in Western conference are in red.) (The team’s winning percentage is under the name)
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 6th | 5th | 7th | 8th | |
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| SAS | OKC | LAC | MEM | Den | GSW | HOU | Utah | |
| Record | 48-14 | 45-16 | 44-20 | 40-19 | 41-22 | 35-27 | 33-29 | 32-29 |
| PCT | 0.774 | 0.738 | 0.688 | 0.678 | 0.651 | 0.565 | 0.532 | 0.525 |
| GB | 0.0 | 2.5 | 5.0 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 13.0 | 15.0 | 15.5 |
| Home | 25-3 | 27-4 | 24-7 | 24-8 | 27-3 | 20-7 | 20-9 | 22-8 |
| Away | 23-11 | 18-12 | 20-13 | 16-11 | 14-19 | 15-20 | 13-20 | 10-21 |
| Div. | 11-2 | 6-4 | 8-4 | 5-5 | 7-5 | 7-5 | 5-8 | 5-4 |
| Conf. | 26-10 | 31-9 | 27-12 | 21-13 | 27-11 | 19-18 | 14-21 | 18-19 |
| Last 10 | 8-2 | 6-4 | 7-3 | 9-1 | 8-2 | 5-5 | 5-5 | 4-6 |
| GAMES | LEFT TO | PLAY | ||||||
| Total | 20 | 21 | 18 | 23 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 21 |
| Home | 13 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 11 |
| Away | 7 | 11 | 8 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| +.500 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 12 |
| ≤ 500 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 9 |
| Div. | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Conf. | 16 | 12 | 13 | 18 | 14 | 13 | 17 | 15 |
| SOS | 0.538 | 0.499 | 0.483 | 0.493 | 0.514 | 0.495 | 0.487 | 0.537 |
| Date | SAS | OKC | LAC | MEM | Den | GSW | HOU | Utah |
| March | ||||||||
| 3/8 | vs POR | at CHA | at CLE | vs HOU | at GSW | at CHI | ||
| 0.467 | 0.213 | 0.344 | 0.532 | 0.565 | 0.557 | |||
| 3/9 | vs NOR | vs MIN | vs MIL | at PHO | at NYK | |||
| 0.339 | 0.362 | 0.508 | 0.344 | 0.627 | ||||
| 3/10 | vs BOS | vs DET | ||||||
| 0.55 | 0.365 | |||||||
| 3/11 | vs OKC | at SAS | at PHO | vs NYK | vs DET | |||
| 0.738 | 0.774 | 0.344 | 0.627 | 0.365 | ||||
| 3/12 | at MIN | at POR | ||||||
| 0.362 | 0.467 | |||||||
| 3/13 | vs Utah | vs MEM | at LAC | vs NYK | vs DET | vs PHO | at OKC | |
| 0.525 | 0.678 | 0.688 | 0.627 | 0.365 | 0.344 | 0.738 | ||
| 3/14 | vs DAL | |||||||
| 0.45 | ||||||||
| 3/15 | vs ORL | at DEN | vs MEM | vs CHI | vs MIN | |||
| 0.274 | 0.651 | 0.678 | 0.557 | 0.362 | ||||
| 3/16 | vs CLE | at Utah | vs MEM | |||||
| 0.344 | 0.525 | 0.678 | ||||||
| 3/17 | at DAL | vs NYK | at HOU | vs GSW | ||||
| 0.450 | 0.627 | 0.532 | 0.565 | |||||
| 3/18 | vs MIN | at CHI | at NOR | vs NYK | ||||
| 0.362 | 0.557 | 0.339 | 0.627 | |||||
| 3/19 | vs DEN | at SAC | at OKC | |||||
| 0.651 | 0.333 | 0.738 | ||||||
| 3/20 | vs GSW | at MEM | vs PHI | vs OKC | at SAS | vs Utah | at HOU | |
| 0.565 | 0.678 | 0.383 | 0.738 | 0.774 | 0.525 | 0.532 | ||
| 3/21 | vs PHI | |||||||
| 0.383 | ||||||||
| March | Totals | |||||||
| W-L | 3-0 | 3-1 | 2-2 | 2-1 | 4-0 | 2-2 | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| Games | 11 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 13 |
| Home | 9 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 6 |
| Away | 2 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| SOS | 0.553 | 0.465 | 0.506 | 0.489 | 0.519 | 0.488 | 0.528 | 0.547 |
| +.500 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Date | SAS | OKC | LAC | MEM | Den | GSW | HOU | Utah |
| April | Totals | |||||||
| Games | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 |
| Home | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Away | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| SOS | 0.519 | 0.553 | 0.456 | 0.498 | 0.506 | 0.506 | 0.436 | 0.520 |
| +.500 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Date | SAS | OKC | LAC | MEM | Den | GSW | HOU | Utah |
