It was only a matter of time until the Memphis Grizzlies started to hit the skids. Currently, their roster is just a hodgepodge of players thanks to injuries, and there's a real chance they won't qualify for the playoffs now. They really need to stop their rot in a hurry, and they'll have a chance to do so against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night.
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SCHEDULING
Memphis needs all the days it can get off right now. The team is going to be on the sidelines on Monday night after losing in Orlando on Sunday, and it'll have two days after that to get ready for a horrifying stretch run which includes games against the Mavs, Warriors, Clippers and Dubs again.
Chicago is running out of games to run down Indiana or Detroit in the East as well. The Bulls are two back in the loss column with five to go, and they'd probably be best served winning out to have any chance of getting in.
KEY MATCHUP
The key to this game is whether the Grizzlies are going to be able to use their bench players effectively. JaMychal Green has come on strong in recent weeks since all of the injuries took place, and he now has five straight games with double-digits in scoring. Lance Stephenson, Xavier Munford and Vince Carter have made some decent contributions as well.
But live bettors shouldn't be fooled due to the raw number here for these players. We're talking about guys who should either be in the D-League or playing a lot deeper on the bench. However, with P.J. Hairston, Brandan Wright, Mike Conley, Jordan Adams and Marc Gasol all sidelined, Dave Joerger is simply running out of places to turn to, and someone has to do some scoring.
The issue the Bulls might have here is the fact that their defense at times has been atrocious against players you wouldn't think shouldn’t be all that tough to guard. They're allowing teams to shoot just 44.0 percent from the field, but it feels like there’s an insane amount of holes in this squad with Derrick Rose still battling an elbow problem and Taj Gibson out with broken ribs.
KEY STATS & TRENDS
There was a time when Chicago was a dead nuts over team on the road. The Bulls started the campaign at 20-12 for over backers away from the United Center. Now, they're just 20-18 after six straight under games played away from the Windy City.
You could argue that this was merely regression to the norm, but the Bulls have been killing over bettors of late. They haven't played well in the fourth offensively of many of these games recently, and that's why live betting fans have watched seven straight Bulls games combine to go under the closing total.
Memphis is at least 2-4 ATS on its six-game skid, but that's not saying a lot for a team which has losses to the Lakers, Nuggets and Magic on said run.
The Grizzlies only have two men on their roster who have played more than 63 out of 77 games this year, and no one has missed fewer than four games.
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