NBA Betting – Atlanta Hawks at Memphis Grizzlies
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
Atlanta Hawks at Memphis Grizzlies (-2, 194 o/u)
Tonight, the Southwest Division-leading Memphis Grizzlies (37-13) welcome the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks (42-9), to the FedExForum (6:00 p.m. Eastern).
Atlanta comes in hot after downing the top-dogs in the Western Conference, Golden State, on Friday (124-116). Point guard Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 23 points but, as usual lately, the win was a team effort; all five Hawks starters scored in double-figures.
Memphis, meanwhile, suffered a surprise loss to the lowly Timberwolves in Minnesota two nights ago (90-89). The loss ended an eight-game winning streak for the Grizzlies, who have two-game lead over the Rockets in the Southwest Division.
Jeff Green, Mike Conley, and Marc Gasol all had 15 points for the Grizzlies in the loss, but power forward Zach Randolph – who averages over 16 per game – scored just six points on 3/7 shooting.
Tonight, Randloph and the Grizzlies’ balanced offense (which features seven players who average in double figures) will face Atlanta’s better-than-expected defensive unit (which is fourth in the league, surrendering 96.9 PPG).
Like the Grizzlies, the Hawks also feature a balanced team that isn’t reliant on any one player on a nightly basis.  Indeed, three Hawks (Jeff Teague, Al Horford, and Paul Millsap) have played well enough in the first half of the season to earn All-Star nods, and Atlanta’s five-man starting unit was recently named “Player of the Month”.
“That’s crazy,” Teague said after hearing the news. “But it just shows we’re a team. It’s cool for the NBA to do that.”
Trend-wise, Atlanta has downed Memphis in seven of their last ten head-to-head games, and the total stayed under in each of the last two.
Atlanta has been great on the road this year (17-6), but the Grizzlies are even better at home (21-5). Take the Grizz and lay the points (-2).
(Photo credit:Â Keith Allison [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
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.
