NBA Handicapping Predictions – Grizzlies vs Thunder
The Thunder are red-hot winners of 6 straight and they are coming off a HUGE win where they crushed the Chicago Bulls.
Venue/ Stadium: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
Time/Date: 8 PM EST Monday, April 1, 2012
NCAA Odds From: Bovada
Moneyline: OFF
Spread (ATS): Thunder -8
Over/Under: 198
Memphis Grizzlies vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Preview
The Grizzlies are coming off a win, but they are only 4-6 in their last 10 games and while they are in the 6th spot in the East they only lead 8th place Houston by 1.5 games. NBA lines have the Thunder as 8-point home favorites with a total of 198.
In their last games the Thunder soundly beat the Chicago Bulls 92-78 and the Grizzlies beat the Milwaukee Bucks 99-95.
This season the Grizzlies are 23-27 ATS with an O/U record of 21-29 and the Thunder are 30-22 ATS with an O/U record of 26-26.
With a win tonight the Thunder will sweep the season series with the Grizzlies.
The Thunder played stellar defense in the win over the Bulls and their 2 stars of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 57 points. The Thunder scored 48 points in the paint in the win over Chicago and Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph will have to keep that from happening again.
Randolph has come back from his series knee injury, but in his last 8 games he is only averaging 11.1 ppg and the Griz will need to have the Z-Bo of old in this match up. Randolph has averaged 25.3 ppg during his last 4 regular-season games in OKC. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Memphis PG Mike Conley is questionable for tonight’s game and if he cannot go O.J. Mayo will need to play well in the backcourt and the Griz will need their bench to step up again like they did scoring 51 points in the win over the Bucks.
The Grizzlies are not a high scoring team ranking 18th in the league in scoring and they will have to rely on their 11th ranked defense to beat a Thunder team that is the 2nd highest scoring team in the league.
Memphis will have to force Durant and Westbrook to take outside jumpers and not allow them to get easy points in the paint.
In some betting trends for this Western Conference match up the Grizzlies are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games overall, 5-14 ATS in their last 19 road games vs. a team with a winning home record, and they have an Under record of 5-1 in their last 6 games.
The Thunder are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games, and they have an Over record of 6-2 in their last 8 games.
Jason’s Pick: The Thunder are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games and that trend will continue tonight, as they will beat the Grizzlies and cover the 8-point spread.
