The third and final meeting of the regular season between the Grizzles and Thunder is set to go Hump Day night when Memphis storms OKC in hopes of avenging the 125-88 beat down it absorbed on its own floor at the beginning of December. With the Grizz failing to cover each of their last three visits to Chesapeake Energy Arena, it will certainly be an uphill climb.
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SCHEDULING
Memphis opens the week in Portland where it’ll battle the Trail Blazers in the middle game of this three-game trek. They dropped the first matchup in overtime against the Jazz, and should they fail to topple the Blazers, will be staring at an 0-3 road trip right in the face.
The Grizzlies have dropped seven of their 18 overall road games and managed just an 8-9 ATS record in those contests. This exact scenario with the Thunder on 1-day of rest is when they’ve been at their worst in going 6-12 straight up and 4-13-1 ATS while getting outscored 103.0-93.4.
Since dropping a 105-96 decision at home to the Bulls as near 10-point chalk on Christmas, Kevin Durant and his mates have rattled off four straight wins against Denver, Milwaukee, Phoenix and Charlotte. They’ll host the Sacramento Kings Monday night before turning their attention to the Grizzlies.
Though Billy Donovan’s men are winning ball games, they aren’t covering them evidenced by their 4-6 ATS mark over the last 10 games in which they won eight times. When favored though, they went off the board at -11.8 points on average, and that’s a ton of chalk to eat on a gamely basis.
They’re 17-4 SU but just 8-13 ATS when playing off 24 hours rest to date.
KEY PLAYER
In the first meeting back on November 16, a game won by the Grizzlies 122-114, Memphis shot a healthy 44 percent from the floor and knocked down 12 of its 17 long range attempts. Mike Conley led the scoring assault for the Grizz with 22 points, nine assists and a 4-of-5 showing from downtown.
In the second go round three weeks later, Conley didn’t make a single one of his seven attempted shots and went scoreless in his near 22 minutes on the hardwood. Not surprisingly, Memphis was run off the court to the tune of a 125-88 drubbing as 2-point home underdogs.
Unfortunately, Conley is dealing with a back injury right now and is currently listed as questionable to go for Monday night’s tilt in Portland. Should he not be able to go in this one, it will certainly limit Memphis’s ability to hang with the streaking Thunder.
LIVE BETTING SCENARIO
A healthy Conley would go a long way in allowing the Grizzlies to not get curb stomped in this one. Should he not suit up for this one, I expect Memphis to look to run a little bit more with its field general riding the pine. The Grizz are one of the slower paced teams in the league per the current Hollinger ratings in averaging just 95.8 possessions per game.
If in fact Memphis looks to speed this one up, it’s likely these teams play to a third straight high scorer with this season’s previous two meetings playing out to an average of 224.5 points per game.
The Grizzlies 18 games played to date on 1-day of rest has seen an average of 196.4 points put on the scoreboard. As for Oklahoma City, its seen its 21 games played with a full day of rest average 211.6 points.
Keep an eye on the pace of play right from the outset for live betting purposes. If the Grizzlies look up to the task of running with the Thunder, it would go a long way in tiring out OKC’s bigs to allow for some more wiggle room down low. If they try to force their preferred pace of play, they must be efficient from the field so as to not get laughed out of the building.
With it ranked amongst the bottom third of the league in field goal and 3-point percentage, banking on Memphis being efficient likely isn’t the way to go about live betting this matchup.
Load your betting bankroll from your smartphone with BookMaker’s new cashier feature! Depositing and withdrawing funds from your account has never been easier. BookMaker's live betting platform means you always have access to odds and lines to every sporting event. Click here and start wagering today! The matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Oklahoma City Thunder will come off the board at 9:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Catch the action live nationally on ESPN.
