NBA Betting – Memphis Grizzlies at Houston Rockets
Memphis Grizzlies at Houston Rockets (-3, 196.5 o/u)
The battle for the Southwest Division ramps up tonight as the Memphis Grizzlies (42-17, 19-10 road), the current division leaders, travel to Texas to face the hard-charging Houston Rockets (41-19, 23-8 home) at the Toyota Center (8:00 p.m. Eastern).
Despite boasting the second-best record in the Western Conference, Memphis has struggled of late, losing three of its last four, and now finds itself just 1.5 games up on Houston.
Yesterday, the Grizzlies laid an egg at home against the woeful Utah Jazz, losing 92-83. Power forward Zach Randolph (16.5 PPG, 11.7 RPG) missed the game due to illness and Memphis really missed his presence on the glass, getting outrebounded 55-37.
Randolph remains questionable for tonight’s game, which is the fourth and final meeting of the season Memphis and Houston.
The Grizz have dropped two of three against the Rockets this year and, the last time they tangled (December 26), Houston emerged with a 117-111 OT win on the strength of 32 points, ten assists, and eight rebounds from current NBA MVP favorite James Harden.
Harden has continued his strong play all season and now has the Rockets surging at just the right time. Excepting their last game (in which Harden was suspended), Houston has won five straight, including wins over current playoff teams Toronto, Cleveland, and the L.A. Clippers.
The Rockets put up a good fight against the East-leading Hawks without Harden last time out, but were edged 104-96 in Atlanta (despite leading by 14 at the break). Aging point guard Jason Terry turned back the clock in a losing effort, scoring 21 points on 8/13 shooting.
Houston is a three-point favorite for tonight’s game at the moment. Looking at the trends, there isn’t much to go on. The Rockets and Grizzlies have split their last ten, both SU and ATS; the over/under has also been split down the middle.
Injuries: In addition to Randolph, Vince Carter (foot) and Beno Udrih (illness) are questionable for the the Grizzlies. Kostas Papanikolaou (ankle) is day-to-day for the Rockets, while center Dwight Howard (knee) remains sidelined.
(Photo credit: thepanamerican (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode]. 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.
