NBA Betting – San Antonio Spurs at Memphis Grizzlies
San Antonio Spurs at Memphis Grizzlies (-2.5, 194)
Another huge Western Conference matchup takes place tonight at the FedExForum in Memphis as the Grizzlies host the defending NBA champs, the San Antonio Spurs (8:00 p.m. Eastern).
The Spurs are 19-13 this season (9-8 away), but have had a rough month of December, losing six of their last eight games, including a 117-116 triple overtime loss to the Grizzlies. In their last outing, they were able to beat the Houston Rockets, 110-106, snapping a two-game losing streak.
The Spurs defense has been uncharacteristically shoddy of late, allowing 106 points or more in three of the last four (including 118 to the Clippers and 114 to the Thunder). Tonight, San Antonio will be focused on stopping Memphis power forward Marc Gasol, who has scored at least 20 points in the last five games.
“I think he really took it to another level this year,” Tim Duncan said. “The last couple years, he’s kind of been secondary to some of those other guys on his team. … His confidence is high, playing really well, scoring, rebounding — the whole gamut. Our focus definitely needs to be on him.”
The Grizzlies are 22-8 this season (12-4 home), good enough for third in the powerful Western Conference. However, Memphis has also had its struggles of late, losing four in a row before downing the Heat (103-95) in its last outing.
The losing streak followed on the heels of Memphis’ triple OT win over the Spurs. The letdown was somewhat understandable, as the victory over San Antonio was not only a lengthy, fatiguing affair, but also carried emotional significance.
“We definitely needed it mentally more so than anything,” point guard Mike Conley said. “We’ve always felt like we can match up with them and we can play with them, but they are always one or two plays better or just one or two hustle plays or out-execute us and that’s been the difference in the series the last couple of years.”
The Grizzlies are 2.5-point favorites in the odds, and the game total is at 194. San Antonio has won nine of their last ten meetings with Memphis and has covered the spread in seven of those ten.
(Photo credit: Sean Davis (flickr) “Mike Conley” [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode].)
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.
