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USATSI

This weekend, for the first time in NBA history, there will be a play-in tournament for the final playoff spot. Starting on Saturday, and possibly continuing on to Sunday, the Portland Trail Blazers will face the Memphis Grizzlies to determine who is the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. 

The reward for the winner is a matchup with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, who clinched the top spot in the Western Conference earlier this month. That first-round series will begin on Tuesday night, with Game 1 set for 9 p.m. ET. But before we can worry about that, the Blazers and Grizzlies have to settle their business first. 

Here's everything you need to know about this historic event:

Game 1

  • Date: Saturday, Aug. 15 | 2:30 p.m. ET
  • Location: Disney Wide World of Sports -- Orlando, Florida
  • TV: ABC | Live stream: fuboTV (try for free)
  • Odds: Trail Blazers -6 | Over/Under: 232.5

Game 2 (if necessary)

  • Date: Sunday, Aug. 15 | 4:30 p.m. ET
  • Location: Disney Wide World of Sports -- Orlando, Florida
  • TV: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (try for free)
  • Odds: Not yet listed 

How does this work?

During a normal season, the No. 8 seed would get the playoff berth, so the Trail Blazers have been handed an advantage for the play-in scenario. Probably the easiest way to think about it is that they're playing a best-of-three series, and Portland starts up 1-0. Thus, the Blazers need to win just once to clinch the playoff spot, while the Grizzlies have to beat them twice. 

How did we get here?

When the season was suspended way back in March, the Grizzlies were in eighth place, with a 3.5-game lead on a number of teams, and if the bubble was just the top eight seeds in each conference, they would have been in. Instead, the league chose this 22-team format, with a play-in tournament activated if the No. 9 seed finished with four games of the No. 8 seed, for a number of reasons. 

Part of it was giving the teams sitting a few games back of the Grizzlies a fair chance to make the playoffs, since they didn't get a full 82 games to make their case, and then there were the massive financial incentives of including more teams and playing more games. Of course, there's also the conspiracy theory -- one that doesn't sound all that far fetched, to be honest -- that this whole thing was designed to try and get Zion Williamson in the playoffs. 

In any case, the seeding games down in Orlando didn't disappoint, and there was drama right down to the final game for every team chasing a spot. Because of the big lead they started off with, everyone just sort of penciled in the Grizzlies, and assumed everyone else would be fighting for one spot. But Memphis lost Jaren Jackson Jr. to a torn meniscus, and almost completely collapsed, needing a win on the final day just to finish 2-6 and secure their place. Even then, they ended up falling to No. 9. 

As for the Blazers, they actually went 6-2, but still needed a dramatic do-or-die win over the Nets in their last game just to sneak in. That was because the Phoenix Suns went from confusing invitee to powerhouse, finishing a perfect 8-0 to nearly pull of a miraculous comeback. But in the end, they had dug themselves too deep of a hole, as had the San Antonio Spurs, who also fell short, ending a 22-year playoff streak. 

Key storylines

Dame Time: Prior to Game 1 of this play-in tournament, the league is going to announce the special awards they created for these seeding games, and there's little doubt Damian Lillard will be named Player of the Seeding Games. The man has been absolutely unreal in Orlando, averaging 37.6 points, 9.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals, while shooting 49.7 percent from the field, and 43.6 percent from 3-point land. 

He tied his career-high with 61 points in a win over the Mavericks, joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to have three 60-point games in one season in the process, became the only player in Blazers history to score 50-plus in back-to-back games, and scored at least 42 points in half of Portland's games inside the bubble. 

Before the restart, he said he didn't want to waste his time and come back for nothing. So far, he's been a man of his word. He's playing at a level which has some people wondering if he's actually the best point guard in the world, and he's turned his games into must-watch events. There's little reason to expect that to change. 

No JJJ: Way back in February, Jaren Jackson Jr. went down with a sprained knee and was still out when the season was suspended in March. By the time the restart plan came into place, he was fully healed and was ready to go for the Grizzlies' playoff push. Unfortunately, his return to the court didn't last long. In the team's third game inside the bubble, Jackson suffered a torn meniscus and was ruled out for the rest of the season. 

Memphis managed to still back their way into the play-in scenario, but their odds of winning two straight against the Blazers are not great, especially without Jackson. A 39.4 percent 3-point shooter, Jackson's ability to space the floor was a key part of the Grizzlies' offense, and his absence is going to make it even hard for them to keep up with the Blazers' high-powered attack. Through the eight seeding games, the Grizzlies were 18th in offense, while the Blazers checked in at No. 1. 

CJ playing hurt: Lillard has carried the Blazers all season long, and he might have to do even more heavy lifting the rest of the way. That's because his longtime backcourt partner, CJ McCollum, has reportedly been playing with a lower back fracture, which he actually suffered when these two teams met in the first seeding game. 

Since then, McCollum's production has been all over the place. He's had some big games, including a clutch 25 points in their win over the Nets, but he's also been essentially nonexistent on other nights. The fracture is non-displaced, so McCollum has kept playing, but only through a great deal of pain. And as the past few games have shown, there's no guarantee what he's going to be able to bring each night. 

That puts even more pressure on Lillard to come through because there's no guarantee that McCollum is going to be able to back him up like usual if he struggles. 

Prediction

The pick here has to be the Blazers. Between the format, the way Lillard has been playing and Jackson's injury, everything is leaning in their favor. It's just too hard to imagine Lillard letting the Blazers lose at all right now, let alone two games in a row to a Grizzlies team that's missing one of its best players.