NBA Playoffs Lines: Grizzlies vs Clippers Game 1

A year ago the Clippers took care of business in the first round against Memphis, this time the Grizzlies want some type of payback. The series starts this Saturday at 10:30 PM ET at Staples Center.

Both teams had exactly the same regular season record, but the Clippers got the home field advantage by winning their division. The regular season series had LA as a 3-1 winner.

“I like how we’ve played when we’ve come here,” Blake Griffin said about beating the Grizzlies 91-87 days ago. “Having home-court advantage is a plus on top of that.”

“They’re a great team,” Jamal Crawford said about Memphis. “They’re coached very well. They play tough basketball. They grind it out. Every game against them has been tough. If we happen to see these guys in the playoffs, we’re sure it will be a tough series again.”

This is the series that will be the hardest to predict because both teams know each other and have faced each other a lot to have a feeling on what’s coming.

Some rumors say the Memphis Grizzlies star Zach Randolph and coach Lionel Hollins are not in the same page. ‘Our relationship is fine,’ Randolph said. ‘I respect my coach.’

‘The only beef I had with Zach is he was excessively late for a shootaround that started at 4:30 p.m. (last Saturday),’ Hollins said. ‘I told him I can’t start you, and he understood. Everybody’s got their opinion about what goes on in our locker room. But only the people in there know. I haven’t had a beef with Zach, and he hasn’t had one with me.’

The Clippers are five point favorites in the NBA playoffs lines. Memphis is 4-1-1 ATS in its last 6 games on the road, but 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games when playing on the road against LA Clippers.