A friend of mine bet on the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night. It didn’t go well.
The Denver Nuggets jumped out to a 35-14 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. At no point was the Nuggets’ 105-91 victory hotly contested. As for my friend, he looked to cash out on his Grizzlies moneyline bet, but held out hope a little too long. A few bucks turned into $0.75, which turned into a quarter and ultimately dissipated completely.
Both he and you should double down on a Memphis rebound on Friday Night.
Trust Ja Morant To Come Through
There were a lot of things going wrong on Tuesday. Ja Morant was not one of them.
The Grizzlies shot a combined 5-of-26 from beyond the three-point arc. They were slightly out-rebounded and committed four technical fouls. Perhaps above all else, they struggled to spread the scoring love. Morant had 35 of the team’s 91 points. Nobody else cleared 11. 😳
Morant shot 50% from the field and 50% from deep, taking 26 total shots, six from deep. He also went 8-of-10 from deep. His 10 assists were mitigated by seven turnovers, though that’s par for the course with an inflated usage rate. His 43.2% usage rate was his second-highest mark of the season for both himself and the team.
The Memphis superstar is having yet another special season, routinely appearing as the best player on the floor. It wasn’t enough. How will he perform against the Phoenix Suns on ESPN?
Currently, the best bet on the Grizzlies is found at PointsBet, where they are favored by 3 and listed at -107. Those odds mean you’d need to place $107 down to win $100. If you’d like to get in on that action, be sure to use their promotion for Bet Basics users: UP TO 5x$100 BONUS BETS.
If this bet is going to hit, two things need to happen ✌️. First, Morant must out-duel his biggest challenger in Phoenix. With star guard Devin Booker out (via AZCentral), that assignment likely falls to Chris Paul. He’s only averaging 12.1 points per game this season, but has dropped 24 or more twice in the past seven games. Secondly, the rest of the Grizzlies must step up. Whether it be positive regression to the mean or a return to their true talent level, Memphis’ supporting cast has to be better.
Only one other Grizzlies starter hit a three on Tuesday. After a 19% performance, I do expect them to bounce back as a group. As a team, they rank 17th in basketball with a 35.2% three-point percentage. Expect their shooting to heat up as they head south. 🔥
BASIC TIPS
This article refers to an against the spread (ATS) bet. To win an ATS bet, a team must “cover,” which means winning by more than the predetermined amount of points (for the favorite) or winning or losing by less than that aforementioned spread (for the underdog). Favorites are denoted with a (-) next to the spread, so it is listed at Grizzlies -3 and Suns +3. Expect these bets to hover around -110 odds.