Grizzlies vs Clippers NBA Handicapping
It doesn’t have quite the panache of a game between the Heat and Thunder, but if tonight’s matchup between the Grizzlies and Clippers at Staples Center in Los Angeles were a boxing match, it would be a very interesting undercard battle.
Memphis Grizzlies (43-19) at Los Angeles Clippers (45-20)
Wednesday, March 13
Staples Center, Los Angeles
10:30 p.m. EST
Spread – Clippers -6 at BetOnline
Total – 188
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As the regular season melts away, Memphis has little chance to catch San Antonio in the Southwest Division. And with a 9-game lead, the Clippers will probably clinch the Pacific title sometime next week.
But under the NBA playoff rules in which the four division winners and the team with the next-best record are seeded 1 through 4, the Clippers, Grizzlies and Nuggets could be trading places before the playoff start in late April.
The Grizzlies have taken advantage of a soft underbelly portion of their schedule to win 5 in a row – Portland (twice), Orlando, Cleveland and New Orleans. With 3 road games against legit teams (Clippers, Nuggets and Jazz) over the next 4 days, things might look a lot different next week, but right now Memphis is on a nice roll.
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The Grizz are coming off a 102-97 victory in Portland last night. Memphis shrugged off a combined 56-point effort by the Blazers’ LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard by getting the kind of balanced scoring attack that coach Lionel Hollins had in mind when Memphis got rid of high-scoring forward Rudy Gay (to Toronto) in a salary dump.
Assuming San Antonio and Oklahoma City don’t collapse completely, the best Memphis can hope for is a No. 3 playoff seed. [ad-6571516]
That requires inching past the Clippers and holding off the red-hot Nuggets.
No easy feat, and if the Grizz falter down the stretch they could fall to No. 5.
The Clippers, who most likely will be seeded 3 or 4, come into tonight’s game rested after tearing apart the undermanned Pistons on Sunday. But LA has depth problems.
Caron Butler banged up his left elbow in the win over Detroit, backup PG Eric Bledsoe is doubtful due to a calf injury and high-scoring sub Jamal Crawford is iffy after missing the last two games with an ankle problem.
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The low (188) totals number is tempting, even though Memphis has a tendency to score in the 80s in the second game of back-to-backs (the under has cashed 7 of 9 times in those situations).
Home teams usual control the tempo of games, and in the last five games at home LA has scored 107, 106, 108, 117 and 129. Looking for the Clippers to end Memphis’s 5-game win streak with a big offensive game as LA’s offense becomes even tougher to defend with Crawford back in the lineup.
Liking Clippers -6, but liking an OVER play even more.
