NBA Betting – Cleveland Cavaliers at Memphis Grizzlies
Cleveland Cavaliers (-2, 194 o/u) at Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies (50-21, 27-7 home) are still lacking a little respect, despite sitting second in the powerful Western Conference. The team can convert some doubters tonight when they host Eastern Conference’s current bridesmaids, the Cleveland Cavaliers (46-26, 20-17 away), at FedEx Forum (8:00 p.m. Eastern).
The Grizzlies trail only the NBA-best Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference standings. The team went through a bit of a rough patch (losing six of ten) in late February and early March, but has rebounded with five wins in its last six, including three straight (over Dallas, Portland, and New York).
Monday’s 103-82 win over the Knicks saw forward Zach Randolph lead the team with 23 points while also chipping in with seven boards and five dimes.
“This is the NBA,” said Randolph after the win. “We have been together a long time and we have to keep playing. We know what we are playing and getting ready for.”
Cleveland comes into tonight just as hot, winning seven of their last eight and three in a row over Brooklyn, Indiana, and Milwaukee. The Cavs aren’t going to catch the Atlanta Hawks for first place in the Eastern Conference, but they’re still pleased to be building momentum heading into the playoffs.
“I think our communication ramped up. We were just flying around and helping one another,” said star LeBron James about his team’s latest run.
James was phenomenal against the Bucks on Sunday, dropping 28 points (on 58-percent shooting) and adding ten boards and six assists in Cleveland’s 108-90 blowout.
The Cavaliers are two-point favorites despite playing on the road, and the game total is at 194 points. Cleveland won the first game of the season against Memphis in December, 105-91, covering as five-point favorites.
(Photo credit: Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA (AAAA0584) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
