NBA play-off positioning stakes remain sky-high as Grizzlies host Timberwolves

MEMPHIS – If the Memphis Grizzlies want to avoid falling into the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) post-season play-in tournament – for those teams finishing seventh to 10th in the Western Conference – the instructions are clear-cut.

Close the season with three consecutive wins.

The Grizzlies (47-32) host the Minnesota Timberwolves (46-33) at the FedExForum on April 10 (April 11, Singapore time), and both teams will be in similar positions. If the Grizzlies can emerge victors, they will finish no worse than fifth.

As the final few days of the season play out, there is a logjam of teams in the Western Conference jockeying for a top-six finish. Only 2.5 games separate the third-placed Los Angeles Lakers (49-31) from the eighth-placed Timberwolves.

“We’re in a tough, tough battle with some other teams and I couldn’t ask for more from (our) guys. They are doing everything they can, and we will keep working one day at a time to secure the best possible seeding for the post-season,” said Memphis interim coach Tuomas Iisalo, who replaced the fired head coach Taylor Jenkins.

Memphis will start the regular-season ending three-game stretch with momentum. The Grizzlies have won three straight road games, including a 124-100 victory on April 8 at Charlotte.

“It’s very hard to say if we are peaking or not. I think we are playing very solid basketball at the moment,” Iisalo said.

Memphis dealt the Hornets their fourth straight loss, but suffered a loss of their own. Rookie forward Jaylen Wells sustained a broken right wrist late in the first half when he was injured during a dunk attempt by K.J. Simpson. It is a significant blow. Wells had started 74 games and averaged 10.4 points while often drawing the assignment of guarding the opposition’s top scorer.

The Grizzlies may call upon another rookie starter, 2.24m big man Zach Edey, to cushion the blow. The Canadian has had a strong late-season surge. After a franchise rookie-record 21-rebound effort against the Detroit Pistons on April 5, he followed with 17 points and 19 rebounds against Charlotte.

“I just feel like I’m in a rhythm. Rebounding is kind of like scoring; you can get in a rhythm on the glass. I’m feeling contact, feeling the ball and reading the ball off the rim. It’s all rhythm,” he said.

Edey played a team-high 31 minutes against Charlotte.

“He’s really putting a great stretch of games together, and it actually looks sustainable because the things he’s doing are not really tied to luck. He is playing with great confidence. He is playing with great poise and physicality. And he’s doing a lot of other things that are not showing up on the box score,” Iisalo said.

Minnesota will attempt to regroup following a disheartening loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Timberwolves built a 24-point lead with 10 minutes to play, but were unable to hold on. The Bucks rallied behind a 40-13 fourth quarter in a 110-103 win.

The Timberwolves had won five straight entering their game against Milwaukee and, despite the loss, they can still finish as high as third in the conference race.

Minnesota coach Chris Finch called the loss a “tough one”.

“We’ve got to shake it off. I have every confidence we’ll be able to fight back. We didn’t expect to go undefeated over our last 10 games. We have to get the ones that are there to be gotten,” he said.

Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards had 25 points, but was just 10 of 27 from the field against Milwaukee.

With the standings bunched tightly, he knew it was a major missed opportunity for his club.

“We’re good, I mean it’s part of the game. Of course we didn’t want to lose but (we) can’t be in bad spirits because we know we need to win the next game,” Edwards said of the loss.

Memphis won both of this season’s previous two meetings. The Grizzlies recorded a 127-125 road win on Jan 11 and a 108-106 home triumph on Jan 20.

Over at the American Airlines Centre, Luka Doncic shrugged off the raw emotion of his return to his former stomping ground with a dazzling 45-point display as the Los Angeles Lakers downed the Dallas Mavericks 112-97 to punch their play-offs ticket on April 9.

Doncic, who joined the Lakers from Dallas in February in one of the most shocking trades in NBA history, was given a rousing reception by Mavs fans.

A pre-game video montage was screened in the arena just before Doncic was introduced to the sell-out crowd of 20,841 fans, many wearing T-shirts bearing the words “Thanks for Everything”, written in the 26-year-old’s native Slovenian.

Doncic visibly teared up as he watched the tribute and looked distraught as he was comforted by Lakers teammate LeBron James moments before tip-off.

Doncic’s 45 points included seven three-pointers from 16-of-28 shooting, while James finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

“I don’t know how I did it because when I was watching that video, I was like ‘There’s no way I’m playing this game’. But all my teammates had my back and were really supporting me,” he told ESPN.

“There were so many emotions I can’t even explain. It brought tears to my eyes. I came here as a young kid, aged 18, and they made me feel like it was home. Just a lot of great memories. I love these fans, I love this city, but it’s time to move on.”

The Denver Nuggets, playing their first game under interim coach David Adelman, who replaced the axed Michael Malone, pulled out of a four-game losing streak with a 124-116 road win over the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Centre on April 9. REUTERS, AFP