At the conclusion of the NBA’s eight-game primer leading up to the postseason, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Portland Trailblazers battled for the final western conference playoff berth.
The Grizzlies, who initially held the eighth seed at the start of the NBA bubble series, just missed out on the playoffs after the Trailblazers ground out a comeback 126-122 win. Portland’s reward for such a feat is a playoff series against the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The winning squad was led by the tandem of shooting guard (SG) CJ McCollum (29 pts) and point guard (PG) Damian Lillard (31 pts), who both combined for 60 points on the match. Following suit was center Jusuf Nurkic (22 pts) and power forward (PF) Carmelo Anthony (21 pts).
For Memphis, PG Ja Morant did the heavy lifting with 35 points across 42 minutes of play. The second highest-scoring player for the Grizzlies was center Jonas Valanciunas, who notched 20 points.
The final play-in game fittingly went down to the wire, ultimately resulting in a fourth-straight victory for a hot Trailblazers team. Portland had to scrape out each of those four wins just to qualify for a shot at the postseason, with their four wins coming by a combined total of 11 points.
Memphis held a 94-89 lead going into the fourth quarter, however, that’s the time frame the Trailblazers thrive in. Despite denying Lillard a single field goal in the fourth, Portland still found a way to squeeze out a win.
This game marks the end of a season that should give Grizzlies fans some hope for the future. I have no doubt that Morant will capture rookie of the year honors for his efforts this season. Morant led the team in points with 17.8 per game, barely edging out second-year PF Jaren jackson Jr (17.4 ppg). In addition, Morant also led Memphis in minutes per game (31) and assists per game (7.3).
The locker room reaction from the Grizzlies signaled that the team is looking to build on their success next year. Morant echoed this sentiment, saying, “We are right there…time to get ready for next season.”
I believe that this is just a minor bump in the road for the Grizzlies on their journey back to relevance. The Grizzlies have a bright future with some young players to build around. I’m curious to see how they approach the 2020 draft.
