The Memphis Grizzlies will welcome the Chicago Bulls to town to close out the weekend on Sunday night. Memphis is a team known for its ability to grind out wins thanks to a vaunted defense, but they’ve shown good offensive ability of late, too, given a huge fourth quarter comeback against a fast-paced Golden State team. With the offense now stepping up, too, they’ll get to take on a Bulls’ team that’s struggled without Jimmy Butler in their last two games. Butler should be back healthy by the weekend which further complicates things given his hot start to 2017.
This war on the floor will go down Sunday, January 15, 2017, at 9 p.m. ET at the FedExForum. The game will be televised live on ESPN and WGN.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Sunday schedule.
Odds Analysis
After scoring just under 116 points per game over the first three games of 2017, the Bulls have totaled just 193 total points in their last two games as Butler has been sidelined with an illness.
Butler was red-hot before going down with 114-points in his last three games and 34.2 PPG over a six game span that also featured three double-doubles. The illness could not have come at a worse time. This is a team that had a miserable December, going just 6-11 and they looked to have turned the corner.
If Butler is back, can he immediately get back to form or will this team look more like the squad that stumbled through the last month?
Chicago has covered the spread in four of its last five games, but as 3-13 ATS in the 16 games prior.
Memphis, meanwhile, headed into Wednesday with back-to-back ATS victories, bumping them over-.500 ATS for the season. They’ve been a bit streaky over the last couple weeks both SU and ATS, but this is a much more consistent team at home where they’re 12-9 ATS.
Player to Watch
When it comes to the Grizzlies, the answer here is simple: Chandler Parsons.
The talented forward was a big investment for the Grizzlies in the offseason with a long term vision of getting him back, healthy and a full go before the playoffs. The forward is still limited in his playing time, but has seen it tick up a bit over his last three games, now averaging a touch over 15 minutes per game.
Along with the couple extra minutes has come some extra productivity, too. He was a nice part of the 88-79 win over Utah on Sunday with nine points. He shot 3-for-4 from the floor and the team was clearly better when him on the court though they still managed to put the game away in the second half without him. That nine point game came on the heels of 10-points the game prior.
Of course his knee issues have kept him off the court for a while save for a brief stint in November before he was sidelined again. He came back just before Christmas with the team taking a much slower approach and it seems to be paying off. The forward looks much stronger and while his playing time is still limited, he give Memphis another strong option inside alongside Marc Gasol and helps the team offensively.
Scheduling Situation
The Grizzlies return home for Sunday’s showdown after playing six of its previous seven and eight of its prior ten games on the road.
Memphis struggled a bit in those road games with losses in back-to-back games in Los Angeles, falling to both the Clippers and the Lakers. They also fell against Boston and Orlando, but the team did top Golden State for the second time this season, this time in Oakland despite a 19-point deficit entering the fourth quarter. They won the game 128-119 in overtime as they outshot the Warriors from the outside thanks to Mike Conley and Troy Daniels.
Still, a return home will be very much welcomed by Memphis who will also have a day’s rest before taking on the Bulls.
Chicago, meanwhile, has a short turnaround for Sunday. They host New Orleans in the Windy City on Saturday evening before hitting the road in preparation for Sunday night’s tip-off. The Bulls are just 3-6 SU and 4-5 ATS when playing without a day’s rest in between.
In the second leg of the Bull’s last back-to-back, both Butler and Wade sat out. For Butler it was a result of an illness that should be out of the way in time for the weekend, but it was just a rest day for Wade who has already sat out three games this year for rest.
Free NBA ATS Picks
Jimmy Butler’s health is the key factor in this game. Assuming he’s healthy and back to full-strength this could be a reasonably close game, but it would be foolish to assume Butler will be back scoring 30-plus, particularly against the Memphis defense.
Look for the Grizzlies to stifle Chicago and keep them from reaching triple-digits. Meanwhile, the Memphis offense is trending upward and this team is at home.
Look for Memphis to get some more useful minutes from Parsons and then count on Conley and Gasol to carry them the rest of the way to another win.
NBA Odds: Grizzlies 102 – Bulls 96
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