NBA Best Bets: Playoff Picture, Key Games and Team Motivations

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00:00Welcome back to the other line here on Sports Grid. Sports Grid TV Series 6M

00:04Channel 159. Mark Zito closing it out here with Coach James Young as we turn

00:07our attention to the NBA tonight. Winding down the regular season here, I've said

00:13repeatedly that the seeding in the Western Conference will absolutely

00:17matter as far as the path and who ends up getting there. Look, we know Oklahoma

00:21City is going to be there, but who else gets there against them? It's gonna matter

00:24for everybody else and we'll start with Golden State and Memphis tonight. The

00:28Grizzlies who fired their coach, they've lost seven of their last ten. They got

00:31beat up last night against the Boston Celtics and now they got to turn around

00:36and face the Golden State Warriors who need to win themselves to continue

00:41to keep pace and avoid the play-in tournament here, Coach. So if you're

00:45Memphis right now and you got a brand new coach in this spot, I mean they're in

00:49danger of losing their grip on being out of the play-in tournament at this point

00:53in time. Yeah, it's still shocking, Mark, that you would fire a coach so close to

01:00the end of the regular season. You can just do it right after the

01:04playoffs, but obviously desperate times come through desperate measures. For a

01:08team in Memphis that is, let's be honest, Mark, they're one game out of being an eighth.

01:14So to me, that is a big, this is a big storyline here. To me, Golden State's

01:19playing really good basketball, winners of seven out of the last ten games, winners of

01:22two games in a row. You know, rest advantage probably was in Memphis, you

01:27know, at least from yesterday morning after a game two nights ago. Memphis has

01:31to travel from Boston to Memphis. You figure they're gonna get home, I don't

01:34know, two, three o'clock in the morning. This favors Golden State, so I do like

01:38Golden State minus a point tonight on the road with Memphis on the second leg

01:42of a back-to-back. Yeah, and you just kind of wonder what the motivation level is

01:45for Memphis. I mean, again, you know, it has not gone well since they fired the

01:50coach. Speaking of motivation level, the Minnesota Timberwolves are taking on the

01:56Denver Nuggets. Look, you know, if I'm Denver, I really would like to grab the

02:02two-seat. Not that I think Houston necessarily is a huge challenge to them,

02:07but them having home-court advantage all the way through up until the Western

02:12Conference Finals matters here. I think that this is a motivated team. Now, again,

02:16Minnesota probably wants to equally win as well to get out of the playing

02:20tournament and have a chance to secure a sixth seed, so they get motivation on

02:24each sides here. I'll always have a tough time betting against Denver

02:28when they're laying this short of a number at home. Yeah, me too, and then the

02:32other part of it is, Mark, is Minnesota had to fight a couple of nights ago with

02:37Detroit, so there could be suspensions coming down the pipe at some point today.

02:41So, if you like Denver, I would go and grab Denver now before it possibly,

02:46Dante DiVincenzo, two guys that were ejected from the fight over the weekend,

02:51may have to sit. So, to me, you're right. Mile high.

02:55Denver trying to get that two seed. You know, if there's a spot here that you'd

03:00like Denver, it's at home, tight spread, minus three and a half. I would lay, I

03:05would lay the points with Denver, minus the points because I do expect possibly a

03:09shorthanded team in Minnesota tonight. All right, final game we'll get into here

03:15in the NBA slate tonight. The Phoenix Suns, who continue to be an absolute

03:19disaster, are hosting the Milwaukee Bucs. Like the NA, the NA, I'm sorry, the, the

03:25A, the Eastern Conference. I'm still stuck on NFL here. The Eastern Conference

03:29is pretty much set. I mean, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, and Chicago are going to

03:32be the playing teams, unless Milwaukee does something and falters terribly, and

03:36Atlanta goes on a little bit of a win streak here. There's no reason to

03:40believe that any, you know, the Eastern Conference numbers are all set with the

03:44exception, maybe three, four, five kind of deal here. So I don't know that the

03:47Bucs have a whole bunch of motivation necessarily to have to continue to keep

03:50winning, to keep their, their six seed. I think it's pretty firmly planned for

03:53them. Phoenix is a game out of the 10th spot. Talk so much about Kevin Durant

03:57and everything. Now he's got the injury. I don't know what Phoenix motivation

04:00level is to try even getting to play in tournament at this point in time. Feels

04:04like a stay away game here, but I don't, I don't know if you can bet, uh, Phoenix

04:09at this point in time. No, you can't put pieces on opposite with Kevin Durant

04:13being out the next three games. So you can't bet them. Milwaukee is interesting

04:18because they got to start playing better, right? They've lost four games

04:20in a row and they're one game behind Detroit for the five seat. Let's be

04:24honest, folks. Milwaukee has played in the Knicks a couple of times. I've

04:27watched it. Knicks have blown them out. They don't want it that succeed. They

04:32need five. They need five in the worst way except that they match up crazy as

04:36it sounds better with Indiana, even though Indiana bounced him out last

04:39year, but they were hurt to look for them to try and make a move here. Wait

04:42for the game to start. Maybe the line drops a little bit. Then jump on

04:46Milwaukee live in the game. They should be able to get the win in the cover.

04:50Yeah. Milwaukee's path again. Not great. As you mentioned, because the

04:53Knicks have taken care of them, but also this is a patient's team that's

04:55probably playing some of the best basketball in the NBA since they finally

04:59got back to 500 on January 4th at 18 and 18, 26 and 13. That's 67% since,

05:05uh, since they finally get back to 500. So, all right, coach, appreciate you

05:09spending some time with us this morning. We'll probably do it again

05:11our morning. Appreciate you joining us. Thanks for everybody. Tune into the

05:14early line. We got plenty or it's great coming up next. Keep it right here on

05:18the grid.

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