Jaynes: CJ McCollum, playing with fracture in lower back, hits 2 free throws to seal win - NBCSports.com

The Blazers will rest on Monday following a 124-121 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday that left Portland just half a game behind Memphis for the eighth seed in the Western Conference with two games remaining. 

Moving into the eight seed would be huge for the Blazers. Not only does it give them more separation from the ten seed to ensure Portland a chance to play its way into the postseason, but it would make it so the Blazers only need to win one play-in game rather than two.

Heading into the bubble, ESPN's BPI had Portland with only a 9% chance of getting the eighth seed in the Western Conference. That chance has more than tripled to 30.3%.

But, just because the Blazers aren't playing today doesn't mean the standings won't be affected. 

[Listen to the latest Talkin’ Blazers Podcast with hosts Channing Frye and Dan Sheldon!]

Here are the standings heading into Monday. UPDATED AFTER PHOENIX WIN OVER OKC ON MONDAY AND SPURS, SUNS WINS AND MEMPHIS LOSS ON TUESDAY. 

8. Memphis Grizzlies Remaining Schedule: Milwaukee (Win Percentage: 0.458)

9. Portland Trail Blazers Remaining schedule: Dallas, Brooklyn (Win Percentage: 0.458)

10. Phoenix Suns Remaining schedule: Dallas (Win Percentage: 0.458)

11. San Antonio Spurs Remaining schedule: Utah (Win Percentage: 0.457)

Note: New Orleans and Sacramento were both eliminated from postseason contention Sunday. 

Notable Games August 10:

Phoenix Suns vs Oklahoma City Thunder

Who do we want to win? Oklahoma City.

Line: Phoenix -7.5 Phoenix won 128-101. 

With the Grizzlies, Trail Blazers and Spurs all on off days, the Suns are the only team in the playoff race for the eighth seed playing on Monday. However, it should be an easy win for Phoenix due to OKC resting many notable players such as Steven Adams, Danillo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous Alexander, and Nerlens Noel.  

If Phoenix wins: They move into a tie for the tenth seed with San Antonio and would stand just a half-game behind Portland with two games remaining for all teams.

If Phoenix loses: They will drop to a game and a half behind Portland for the ninth seed with two games remaining. The Suns would need Portland to lose out to have a chance to get the ninth seed. 

Notable Games August 11:

Portland Trail Blazers vs Dallas Mavericks (3:30 p.m PT):

Who do you want to win: Portland.

Incentives to rest? Dallas rested multiple starters including Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis against Utah on Monday which was one of the few teams the Mavericks could catch up to in the standings. However, they came back from 22 down to defeat the Jazz putting them a full game behind Utah for the sixth seed. 

San Antonio Spurs vs Houston Rockets (11:00 a.m. PT):

Who do you want to win: Houston. San Antonio won 123-105. 

Incentives to rest? The Rockets will be 1.5 games behind Denver for the third seed and may play for the chance to move up and play the Utah Jazz, who Houston has eliminated from the postseason two years running, in the first round rather than the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Phoenix Suns vs Philadelphia 76ers (1:30 p.m. PT):

Who do we want to win? Philadelphia. Phoenix won 130-117.

Incentives to rest? Ben Simmons has already been ruled out indefinitely. Joel Embiid injured his left ankle against the Trail Blazers on Sunday and the Sixers have ruled him out for Tuesday's contest. However, Philadelphia is just one game back of the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat (who play each other Monday evening) for the fourth seed which would avoid Boston in the first round. The Sixers cannot fall to the seventh seed. 

Memphis Grizzlies vs Boston Celtics (2:00 p.m. PT):

Who do we want to win? Boston. Boston won 122-107.

Incentives to rest? Boston is locked into the third seed in the Eastern Conference, but, head coach Brad Stevens said he doesn't plan to rest his starters for the remainder of seeding games.

“You obviously want to have great health, but conditioning is a great part of that, so we want all of our primary guys to play at least two more times out of three,” the Celtics coach said after Saturday’s practice per the Boston Herald. “All of our sports science people and everybody else feels a full week in between games is enough – certainly don’t want more than that. We play our guys, nothing is set in stone yet, that’s the way we’re going to approach it.”

Scenarios:

Portland Wins Eighth Seed:

-Portland goes 2-0

-Portland goes 1-1, Memphis goes 0-1, San Antonio goes 0-1, Phoenix goes 0-1

Portland Wins Ninth Seed:

-Portland goes 1-1, Memphis goes 1-0, San Antonio goes 0-1, Phoenix goes 0-1

Play-in games schedule:

Game 1: Saturday, August 15 at 11:30 a.m. PT

Game 2 (if necessary): Sunday, August 16 at 1:30 p.m. PT 

Next up: The Portland Trail Blazers will play the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, August 11 at 3:30 p.m. PT here on NBC Sports Northwest.

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Jaynes: CJ McCollum, playing with fracture in lower back, hits 2 free throws to seal win - NBCSports.com
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