NBA Playoff Betting – (4) Blazers at (5) Grizzlies (Game 2)
Portland Trail Blazers at Memphis Grizzlies (-6, 189 o/u)
In this year’s NBA playoffs, no team looked worse in the slate of Game 1s than the Portland Trail Blazers (0-1, 0-1 away), who fell 100-86 to the Memphis Grizzlies (1-0, 1-0 home) on Sunday. The Blazers will look to put in an improved performance and steal Game 2 at the FedEx Forum tonight (8:00 PM Eastern Time).
The Blazers shot a playoff-low 33.7-percent from the field in the loss; star point guard Damian Lillard was a dreadful 5/21 including 0/6 from three. Portland power forward LaMarcus Aldridge led the team with 32 points, but could only muster 38-percent from the floor.
“I think [Game 1 was] a good wakeup call for us,” Aldridge said. “But definitely tonight they manhandled us.”
The Grizzlies had everything go their way in the contest, including getting a big night from reserve guard Beno Udrih (20 points and seven assists). Udrih’s performance was extra clutch given that starting point guard Mike Conley is laboring from a foot injury.
Udrih was the beneficiary of a seeming lack of respect from the Blazers’ defense.
“I was wide open,” Udrih said after the game. “Shots like that I’ve got to take. I knocked down [one] and then two more times I came out of the screen and knocked them down again. I was just being aggressive.”
The Grizzlies’ stars also put in solid showings in the win; Zach Randolph had 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Marc Gasol added 15 points and 11 boards.
Betting-wise, the Grizzlies covered the spread as 5.5-point favorites in Game 1. It was the team’s fifth straight ATS win over the Blazers. Straight up, Memphis has won four in a row – and nine of the last ten – against Portland (covering the spread in all nine wins).
The last three meetings also under the game total.
With all the trends favoring Memphis, the Grizzlies – laying the points – looks like better value.
Pick: Grizzlies -6.
(Photo credit: nikk_la (Flickr: K26A0442) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/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.
