![]() How do I come to that number? They are 36-33 on the season, including only 3-5 since the All-Star break with a healthy team. The Clippers are on pace to finish the season 7-6 in their final 13 games. The Suns have already clinched the tiebreaker over the Clippers for a higher playoff seed if they finish tied after 82 games, meaning the Clippers still have to finish the season with 4 fewer losses than the Suns. They are only 8-13 since January 20, and won’t have Steven Adams or Brandon Clarke the rest of the way, not to mention Ja Morant being ‘away from the team’ for an indefinite period of time. The Grizzlies going 9-7 or worse the rest of the way is much more likely than the Kings. The Suns need 3 more wins than the Grizzlies from here on out. ![]() Here’s your best chance: Grizzlies and Kings have the same record right now, so the same scenario applies. To overtake them, the Suns need not only 3 more wins than the Grizzlies from here on out but would have to win their final matchup of the season in Memphis as part of that. The Grizzlies schedule one of the easiest remaining among all 30 teams. Except they’ve won two straight, with easy home wins over the road-awful Warriors and Luka-less-Kyrie-less Mavericks. What about the Grizzlies, who have lost three rotation players recently? They could slide, big time. For example, if the Suns somehow went 12-3 in their final 15 games, the Kings would have to go 9-7 to drop into a tie and lose the seed (Suns almost certainly have the tiebreaker on division records, and can finish no worse than 2-2 head-to-head). 500 the rest of the way to overtake them. The Suns would need win a ton of games while the Kings to barely scratch. The Kings are now 8-1 since the All-Star break, including the win over the Suns last night, and showing no signs of slowing down. It was only one loss, but that’s less likely now. Now, the Suns are 3.5 games (3 wins, 4 losses) behind the 2nd/3rd place teams and just a 2-game lead (1 win, 3 losses) ahead of the Clippers. Now the Suns are closer to 5th than they are to 3rd. Unfortunately, the Suns were the only team among them to lose a game on Saturday while the Memphis Grizzlies (2nd), Sacramento Kings (3rd), Los Angeles Clippers (5th) and Golden State Warriors (6th) all won. As I wrote the other day, the Phoenix Suns only had to go 8-8 in the final 16 games to reasonably hold onto the 4th seed come playoff time, and that a nice 12-4 finish might help them climb the ladder to an ever higher seed.Ĭoming into Saturday, the Suns had a 3+ game lead on the 5th and 6th seeds and only a 2.5 game deficit on the 2nd and 3rd seeds.
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