The Western Conference Semifinals will kick off on Sunday afternoon in Oakland.
Where the Golden State Warriors (71-15 SU, 48-37-1 ATS) will have a huge edge on the Memphis Grizzlies (59-28 SU, 43-41-3 ATS) in Game 1.
CONLEY INJURY CREATES BIG PROBLEMS STOPPING SPLASH BROTHERS
The key in this game for live bettingpurposes is going to be timing it right for when to back Golden State. You know that the run is coming.
We don't care who in the heck Memphis or any other team in the NBA is going to put on Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. These two men are going to be scoring points and scoring them in bunches at some point over the course of every game in the playoffs. The only question is when.
The answer is very likely going to be when Tony Allen steps out of the game. Allen is going to have no choice but to go heads up with one of these two superstars, and without Mike Conley in the lineup thanks to a facial fracture, Nick Calathes is going to have to be matched up with Curry quite a bit.
To his credit, Calathes did actually have a better defense rating per advanced statistics than Conley did in the opening round of the playoffs, but anyone who has watched this team for any period of time should know that Conley is the far superior point guard and will be better suited to try to at least slow down Curry.
Still, that doesn't solve the massive problem. The Grizzlies did a great job of defending against the interior game of the Trail Blazers, but when they are extended out beyond the three-point line, they tend to have a lot of holes out there that cannot be defended against.
No one is going to go out there and guard Curry and Thompson from three or four feet behind the three-point line, knowing that that would ruin defensive integrity. There's a reason this team ranked just 18th in the league this year in three-point defense.
FAST BREAKING FOR RUNS
The Warriors run. A lot.
Golden State was +47 in the fast break department in the four games against New Orleans in the last round, but perhaps the most impressive number of the bunch from that series was the big fat goose egg that the Pelicans had in the fast break department in Game 4.
Granted, we know that the Pels were basically said and done with after Curry hit that amazing three in the corner to send Game 3 to overtime, but still, to have zero fast break points in a game against one of the fastest paced teams in the league is seemingly unheard of.
Then again, keep in mind that the Warriors were also one of the best defensive teams in the league this season as well to go with the fact that they averaged 110.0 points per game.
Memphis can't afford to try to make this a fast series. The Grizzlies have to do everything possible to slow things down.
We're going to go back to Conley, though. He's a veteran who has been here and done this in the playoffs. He knows how to manage a game. Calathes just isn't the same type of point guard, and he might fall into that trap of running far too fast for Memphis' good. If so, you know that the time is right to go place a bet on the Warriors, because things could be getting out of hand in a hurry.
The NBA betting lines for this Sunday game were first available at BookMaker Sportsbook. Golden State opened at -9.5, and the total debuted at 197.5. Live wagering during commercials offers adjusted moneylines, totals and spreads. Log in and start gambling during the game now!
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