The Memphis Grizzlies know their postseason opponent.
Memphis will face the Golden State Warriors in a play-in game on Tuesday (9 p.m. CT, TNT) April 15 at Chase Center in San Francisco. The Grizzlies are the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, while the Warriors are No. 7.
The winner will advance to the playoffs and face the No. 2 Houston Rockets in a seven-game series. On Friday night, the loser will host the winner of Wednesday’s matchup between the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks in a win-or-go-home game. The winner of that game will face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Grizzlies were as high as No. 2 in the Western Conference just a couple months ago, but Memphis has been backsliding since the NBA All-Star break and eventually ended up in the play-in. The Grizzlies fired coach Taylor Jenkins with nine regular-season games remaining, and interim coach Tuomas Iisalo wasn’t able to rescue Memphis in time.
As recently as a few days ago, the Grizzlies were still in position to avoid the play-in. But they lost back-to-back games against the Timberwolves and Nuggets to fall into a hole they couldn’t climb out of.
After finishing as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference in back-to-back seasons, the Grizzlies missed the postseason entirely in 2023-24 as injuries decimated the roster throughout the season. The 2024-25 campaign began with high expectations and was going well in the beginning of the season, but the Grizzlies consistently struggled against better teams. They’ll likely be an underdog in the first play-in game.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
