Don’t look now, the San Antonio Spurs are back in the playoff mix

So can they pull this off?

If the season ended now (and it doesn’t; the Grizzlies and Spurs both have six more games to play), these two teams would be your play-in matchup. However, the Spurs have gained 3.0 games on the Grizzlies in the last three games they’ve played, and it wouldn’t be impossible to suggest that they may apply more pressure on than merely threatening a play-in.

In fact, the Grizzlies have the toughest schedule remaining with a combined opponent winning percentage of 65.0 percent. Conversely, the Spurs face a combined opponent winning percentage of 59.5 percent and have the ninth-toughest schedule remaining.

As of Sunday night, FiveThirtyEight gives the Spurs a 16 percent chance of making the playoffs, but of course that doesn’t calculate the odds of just making the play-in. There may not be a metric that calculates what happens when the young Grizzlies meet up with the battle-hardened Spurs and their leader Gregg Popovich in a high-leverage environment.

Plenty will need to be resolved in the coming two weeks, but we’ve been reminded once again that betting against the San Antonio Spurs, even when things look bleak for them, is never a good idea.