Via the Memphis Grizzlies:
The Memphis Grizzlies will resume the 2019-20 season on Friday, July 31 against the Portland Trail Blazers at The Arena at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, the NBA announced tonight. The Grizzlies are one of 22 teams that will be resuming the season and will compete in eight “seeding games” to determine the participants and order for the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
Earlier today, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) announced that they have finalized a comprehensive plan for a July 30 restart to the 2019-20 season, which includes stringent health and safety protocols, a single-site campus at Walt Disney World and the goal of taking collective action to combat systemic racism and promote social justice.
Under the competitive format for the restart, the 22 participating teams will be the eight teams in each conference with the highest current winning percentages and the six teams that are currently within six games of the eighth seed in either conference.
Each participating team will play eight “seeding games,” as selected from its remaining regular season matchups. At the conclusion of the seeding games, the seven teams in each conference with the highest combined winning percentages across regular-season games and seeding games will be the first through seventh seeds for the NBA Playoffs for that conference. If the team with the eighth-best combined winning percentage (regular season games and seeding games) in a conference is more than four games ahead of the team with the ninth-best combined winning percentage in the same conference, then the team with the eighth-best winning percentage would be the eighth playoff seed in that conference.
If the team with the eighth-best combined winning percentage in a conference (Team 8) is four games or fewer ahead of the team with the ninth-best combined winning percentage in the same conference (Team 9), then those two teams would compete in a play-in tournament to determine the eighth playoff seed in the conference. The play-in tournament will be double elimination for Team 8 and single elimination for Team 9.
A complete television and radio broadcast schedule will be released at a later date, but all regionally-available Grizzlies games will air live on FOX Sports Southeast and the FOX Sports GO app, anchored by the network’s flagship pre- and postgame show, Grizzlies LIVE presented by Ford and your Mid-South Ford Dealers.
The Grizzlies’ eight-game seeding schedule is below:
Friday - July 31 Portland Trail Blazers 3 p.m. - The Arena
Sunday - August 2 San Antonio Spurs 3 p.m. - Visa Athletic Center
Monday - August 3 New Orleans Pelicans 5:30 p.m. - HP Field House
Wednesday - August 5 Utah Jazz 1:30 p.m. - HP Field House
Friday - August 7 Oklahoma City Thunder 3 p.m. - Visa Athletic Center
Sunday - August 9 Toronto Raptors 1 p.m. - Visa Athletic Center
Monday - August 11 Boston Celtics 5:30 p.m. - HP Field House
Wednesday - August 13 Milwaukee Bucks TBD-TBD
Promotional activities for Grizzlies fans, including watch parties and more, will be announced at a later date. For more information on the Grizzlies, visit grizzlies.com, ‘like’ Memphis Grizzlies on Facebook or follow on Twitter and Instagram (@memgrizz).
