NBA Playoff Betting – (5) Grizzlies at (1) Warriors (Game 5)
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State Warriors (-9.5, 195.5 o/u)
The Golden State Warriors won home court back in Game 4 and now the number one seed in the West will try to win two in a row for the first time in their conference semifinal against the Memphis Grizzlies tonight at ORACLE Arena (10:30 PM Eastern).
The Warriors played perhaps their best game of the postseason to date in Game 4, beating the Grizzlies 101-84 at the Grindhouse with 33 points from MVP Steph Curry; the team also covered the spread as five-point favorites.
“I get frustrated, but never down,” Curry, who had uncharacteristically struggled with his shot in the first three games of the series, said to the Associated Press. “I’m pretty good at being able to go home and forget about what happened in a game.”
Memphis already proved they can win in Golden State, but they will be in tough against a team that had only two home losses all year heading into this series. The Grizzlies will need to rediscover the strong defense that led to back-to-back wins in Games 2 and 3, not the one that allowed 61 points in the first half of Game 4. The health of Tony Allen (who was named First Team All Defense, in case you hadn’t heard) will be key for Memphis tonight. The squad’s defensive leader was limited to just 16 minutes by a hamstring injury on Monday.
“We came into this series thinking it was going to be a seven-game series, even when nobody thought we’d get a game, or some thought we’d get one,” Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger told the AP. “We believe that we can get the job done, and we’ll be better on Wednesday.”
Betting-wise, the trends are a bit concerning for the Warriors, who are just 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games as a favorite, and 1-6 ATS in their last seven home games. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, are 4-0-1 ATS in their last five following an ATS loss, and 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 games versus teams with a winning record. In light of the above, the Grizzlies plus the hefty 9.5 points looks like the play.
Pick: Grizzlies +9.5.
(Photo credit: Sean Davis (flickr) “Mike Conley” [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode].)
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.
