How NBA Playoff Picture in Western Conference Looks After Timberwolves Beat Grizzlies

The postseason race is heating up in the wild, wild West.

Anthony Edwards scored 44 points in the Wolves' win over the Grizzlies on Thursday night. / Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

There is still plenty to be sorted out with three days remaining in the 2024-25 NBA regular season.

While the Eastern Conference's playoff picture is mostly shaping into form, the standings resemble much more chaos in the wild, wild West. With two games remaining for all teams in the Western Conference, just one game separates the No. 4 seed Denver Nuggets from the No. 8 seed.

Heading into their clash Thursday night, the Memphis Grizzlies held onto the No. 6 seed—the final guaranteed playoff spot—with a 47-32 record while the Minnesota Timberwolves were one game behind in the No. 8 spot.

Behind 44 points from star guard Anthony Edwards, the Wolves rolled to a 141-125 victory and evened their record with the Grizzlies. But due to tiebreakers, they stayed in the No. 8 seed. Memphis, meanwhile, flipped spots with the Warriors, who hold the tiebreaker over both teams.

If the season ended Thursday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets would host the two teams to emerge from the play-in tournament as the conference's No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. The No. 3 seed Los Angeles Lakers would face the No. 6 Warriors in the first round, while the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers would battle it out as the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds.

As for the three-way tie between Golden State, Minnesota and Memphis? The Warriors wrap up their season with matchups against the Trail Blazers and Clippers, the Timberwolves will battle the Nets and Jazz, and the Grizzlies will face the Nuggets and Mavericks.

Without further ado, here's a look at the updated standings heading into Friday's slate of games:

NBA Playoff Picture: Western Conference

SEED	TEAMS	RECORD	GAMES LEFT
1	Thunder	66-14	2
2	Rockets	52-28	2
3	Lakers	49-31	2
4	Nuggets	48-32	2
5	Clippers	48-32	2
6	Warriors	47-33	2
--	PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT	--	--
7	Grizzlies	47-33	2
8	Timberwolves	47-33	2
9	Kings	39-41	2
10	Mavericks	38-42	2
--	--	--	--
11	Suns	35-45	2
12	Trail Blazers	35-45	2
13	Spurs	33-47	2
14	Pelicans	21-59	2
15	Jazz	17-63	2

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