NBA Betting – Philadelphia 76ers at Memphis Grizzlies

Philadelphia 76ers at Memphis Grizzlies (-17, 190 o/u)

The Memphis Grizzlies (30-12) host the Philadelphia 76ers (8-35) tonight at the FedEx Forum (8:00 p.m. Eastern) in a battle between teams at the opposite end of the NBA spectrum.

The Grizzlies have won five of their last six games and continue to sit atop the ultra-competitive Southwest Division. Memphis has been extra tough at home this year, going 17-5 at the FedEx Forum. Teamwork and sharing the ball have been key to the team’s early success, as three Grizzlies are averaging over 16 points per game: Marc Gasol (19.3 PPG), Mike Conley (17.9 PPG), and Zach Randolph (16.7 PPG).

In contrast, the rebuilding Sixers are having a season to forget. The silver lining to their dreadful 8-35 record is that it is no longer an NBA-worst. However, the team has lost four straight coming into tonight, including a loss to the NBA’s new cellar-dwellers, the Knicks.

The Sixers have the worst offense in the league, scoring only 90.1 points per game and they will be missing a multitude of players for tonight’s game: Joel Embiid (foot), Andrei Kirilenko (suspension), Jason Richardson (knee), and Tony Wroten (knee).

After last night’s 90-86 loss to the struggling Raptors, Philly has failed to hit the century mark in 20 straight games. The Sixers jumped out to a 30-22 lead against Toronto, but could only muster 56 points over the final three quarters.

Memphis has owned Philadelphia lately, winning eight of the last ten meetings and covering in seven of those. However, the last time they met (in December), Memphis narrowly escaped with a five-point win and failed to cover.

The Sixers are undoubtedly terrible and will be tired after playing last night, but 17 points still looks like too many.

(Photo credit: Verse Photography (flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)