With the Grizzlies‘ 123-98 loss to the Spurs tonight, Memphis has officially been eliminated from playoff contention, and the Warriors have been locked into a top-10 seed, confirming their position in the play-in tournament.
The Pelicans had their playoff possibilities officially extinguished by virtue of their 121-116 loss to the Knicks on Tuesday.
That means that the top 10 teams in the West, and therefore the playoff/play-in pool, has been finalized: the Thunder, Spurs, Lakers, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Rockets, Suns, Clippers, Trail Blazers, and Warriors will all be participating in the offseason, though there is still room for the seeding to change over the last few weeks of the season.
Wednesday night was a big night for the Western Conference seeding races, as the Nuggets, Rockets, Warriors, Clippers, Blazers, and Lakers all played. Coming into the night, three games separated the sixth-seed Rockets from the third-seed Lakers, and the 10th-place Warriors were just two games behind the eighth-place Clippers.
While no team is likely to catch the Spurs in second place, San Antonio is just two games behind the top-seeded Thunder, who had their 12-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson spoke about the team clinching home court advantage in the first round tonight. “I would expect it to be loud with a lot of excitement, enthusiasm,” he said, per Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). “But it’s still a little bit away, so hopefully we can continue to get better and make some improvements in a lot of areas.”
Will the Warriors have enough healthy players to suit when playin time comes.
The great tank continues.
The play in is so ridiculous. Any team with Steph Curry on it should never be below the 2026 version of the Portland Trail Blazers in the standings. Yet they are, and they get a chance at the playoffs, that they don’t deserve. If Portland drops them in the play in opener,then the Warriors won’t be a threat again for a long long time.