When center Marc Gasol went down with a knee injury in late November that forced him out for at least a month, it looked as if the Grizzlies had little chance of repeating their trip to the Western Conference Finals — or even making the playoffs in the loaded West.
But a funny thing has happened since Gasol came back in mid-January, about six weeks later. The Grizzlies, who at that point were 17-19 and in 11th place (3.5 games out of the final playoff spot), have gone on a tear, winning 22 of 30 and climbing back into the eighth spot in the West.
Memphis is rolling by maintaining one of the league’s best defenses while throwing the imposing combo of Gasol and Zach Randolph at teams down low and getting even better play from point guard Mike Conley.
You can be sure the Spurs, Thunder and Clippers – the three teams atop the West – hope to avoid Memphis in round one, preferring the Mavericks, Suns or Blazers to the playoff-tested Grizzlies and their usual dose of grit-and-grind ball.
(Last week’s rankings in parentheses)
1. Spurs (4): During their current 10-game winning streak, the Spurs have an average margin of victory of 15.7 points while racking up 29.6 assists per game. They’re just a beautiful, efficient winning machine.
2. Clippers (3): While the Lakers continue to implode, the Clippers are flying high, holding an NBA-high 11-game winning streak. It’s truly a different world in L.A. these days.
3. Bulls (4): The Bulls bounced back from a bludgeoning at the hands of the Spurs to pick up a pair of wins, and keep themselves right on the heels of the Raptors for third place in the East.
4. Warriors (5): With Sunday’s win over the Trail Blazers, the Warriors continue to edge closer to Portland for the five-seed in the West. Still rooting for Warriors-Clippers in round one, though.
5. Grizzlies (6): The Grizzlies are playing like the team that reached the Western Conference Finals last season now that they’re healthy again.
6. Rockets (2): Came up short in multiple matchups against good teams last week, but the Rockets are still going to be an extremely tough out in the playoffs.
7. Pacers (12): Indiana dodged what would’ve been a catastrophic loss to the Pistons Saturday to extend their winning streak to three games and maintain a two-game lead in the loss column over the Heat for first in the East.
8. Heat (8): If the Heat don’t wind up with the best record in the Eastern Conference, they’ll look back at the last couple weeks as the reason why. They lost five out of six games during one stretch.
9. Wizards (9): Saturday’s win over the Nets was big for the Wizards, who essentially have a two-game lead over the Nets for fifth and still have a chance to snare the fourth seed and homecourt advantage in round one.
10. Thunder (9): With a 5-5 record in their last 10, the Thunder likely won’t finish in the top spot in the West – and with the Clippers one game back, second is no sure thing either.
11. Raptors (10): Even after Sunday’s loss to Phoenix, it looks as if the Atlantic Division will be theirs, a big accomplishment for a team looking to establish a consistent winner for the first time since Vince Carter left.
12. Mavericks (11): Just keep cruising along, now 1.5 games up on the Suns. This team is on pace to win 50 games with a roster no one expected to win that much, which means Rick Carlisle deserves a lot of credit.
13. Nets (13): If the Nets had closed down those final six minutes in Washington, last week would look a lot different. Instead, they gave back the big win they had in Miami on Wednesday.
14. Trail Blazers (14): After their brilliant start, the Blazers have plummeted to where they are now just 1.5 games ahead of the Warriors in sixth and 3.5 ahead of Memphis in eighth.
15. Suns (15): They got Eric Bledsoe back, but still have to find a way to jump back over either Memphis or Dallas to get back into a playoff spot.
16. Bobcats (16): With four wins in a row, Charlotte has moved to within 1.5 games of the Nets for sixth place in the East, which would allow them to escape a certain first-round exit against the Heat (or Pacers).
17. Timberwolves (17): Minnesota has been playing better lately, but it’s just too little too late in the loaded West.
18. Knicks (18): They have won six in a row, but not one of those games came against a credible opponent. More importantly, the Knicks remain five back of Atlanta in the loss column with just 15 games remaining.
19. Hawks (29): With three straight wins and Paul Millsap finally back healthy, it appears Atlanta has stopped the bleeding and can hang onto the final playoff spot in the East.
20. Pelicans (20): You know who’s pretty good? Anthony Davis. His numbers over the past 10 games: 25.3 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 54.6 percent shooting.
21. Celtics (19): Boston continues to play hard, even with a lack of talent and several players out for the season with injuries. That’s a credit to Brad Stevens. Too bad the team still is terrible.
22. Pistons (22): Detroit, like Cleveland, briefly looked like it could challenge Atlanta for the final playoff spot. But Saturday’s collapse against Indiana is a perfect example of what is wrong with this team.
23. Nuggets (26): They have seen a slight uptick in their play lately … which, combined with the surge from the Knicks, has seen their draft position get worse by the day.
24. Cavaliers (23): With Kyrie Irving potentially done for the season with a biceps injury, that flicker of playoff hopes has been extinguished.
25. Kings (25): Would do well this summer to add some players who don’t need the ball (as well as better defenders) to surround Isaiah Thomas, Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins.
26. Lakers (27): We already said most everything that needs to be said about the mess in Lakerland.
27. Jazz (21): As the Jazz have fallen apart, losing nine of their last 10, the focus shifts to the future of coach Ty Corbin, whose contract runs out at the end of the season.
28. Magic (24): The Magic have been rotating in 10-day contract guys for looks over the final few weeks of the season. That and seasoning for their young players are all that’s left in Orlando.
29. Bucks (28): After winning twice in their last 10 games, the Bucks – who had managed to stay in last place in the NBA for most of the season – now look as if they will pass the Sixers sometime by the end of the month.
30. 76ers (30): The Sixers have lost 20 games in a row. Can this team win another game this season? We’re not kidding.