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Grizzlies try to stay hot Wednesday at Lakers
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 11/26/2014  at  5:04:00 AM
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MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (12-2)

at LOS ANGELES LAKERS (3-11)

Tip-off: Wednesday, 10:35 p.m. ET
Line: Memphis -6, Total: 199.5

Two teams moving in opposite directions, the Grizzlies and Lakers, match up on Wednesday night a Staples Center.

Memphis has looked spectacular this season as it has lost just two games SU while going 8-6 ATS and has covered in each of the past four contests. In those games the Grizzlies are 3-1 SU while defeating their opponents by an average of 19.3 PPG in the three victories. Their most recent win came Sunday and was a big one, as they dominated a talented Clippers team by a score of 107-91 as two-point favorites at home. They had six players score 10+ points and held the usually explosive L.A. offense to a meager 41.6% shooting from the floor. The Lakers have not done well this year and have looked overmatched in nearly every game on both sides of the ball. They were able to get two wins in their recent three-game road trip when they defeated the Hawks and Rockets in back-to-back games, but came back down to earth with losses in each of their past two contests. On Sunday they hosted the Nuggets as 2-point underdogs and lost 101-94 to bring their ATS record on the young season to 6-7. Their offense made only 37.1% of their attempts in the loss and it was the fourth time in six games that they had shot worst than 41% FG. These two teams met four times last season with Memphis going 3-1 SU, as L.A. was 3-0-1 ATS in that time. The Grizzlies won each of the past three games SU by an average of 7.3 PPG while being double-digit favorites each time. The stingy Grizzlies defense actually did not do too well against this Lakers team as they shot better than 47% from the floor in three of the four contests. Trends show that Memphis is 16-4 ATS (80%) after scoring 100+ points in two straight games over the past three seasons while Los Angeles is 10-1 ATS (91%) when the total is between 190 and 199.5 points over the past two seasons. The injury report has no Memphis players on it, while the Lakers will be without the services of SF Xavier Henry (Achilles), PF Ryan Kelly (Hamstring) and possibly PF Carlos Boozer (shoulder), who is listed as questionable.

Can the Lakers stay close to the red-hot Grizzlies? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. StatFox Forecaster has a 61% ATS record (39-25) in featured games this season. StatFox Gary is off to a fast start to the 2014-15 campaign at 57% ATS (12-9) in his Best Bets, while StatFox Zach is 5-2 ATS in Best Bets since Nov. 15.

The Grizzlies offense has looked much improved this season as they sit in the middle of the pack in the NBA by scoring 99.9 PPG on 45.8% shooting and have put up 106.8 PPG in their past six contests. As usual, their defense has been elite and ranks third in the league while allowing 92.4 PPG on 43.6% FG (8th in NBA). Many consider C Marc Gasol (19.9 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.5 BPG, 1.2 SPG) the best all-around center in the NBA and he has had 30+ points in each of his past two games while hitting 26-of-40 shots (65% FG). In his career against the Lakers (21 starts), he has averaged 11.3 PPG (43% FG), 9.2 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.7 BPG and 1.3 SPG. PG Mike Conley (16.2 PPG, 6.1 APG, 1.2 SPG) is shooting a career-high 47% threes this season, but is coming off a subpar performance in the win over the Clippers (7 points, 7 assists). He has faced Los Angeles 24 times (23 starts) in his career, scoring 13.2 PPG (44% FG) with 5.6 APG and 1.8 SPG. PF Zach Randolph (16.1 PPG, 11.8 RPG) has nine double-doubles over the team’s first 14 games, but is coming off a poor performance against the Clippers (10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 turnovers). Last season he averaged a double-double (17.3 PPG, 10.0 RPG) while hitting 45% of his shots from the floor in his four games against the Lakers.

The Lakers are not a horrible offensive team with 102.0 PPG (13th in league), but they get so many points with pure shot volume as they are hitting a meager 44% of their field goals (8th-worst in NBA). On the other hand, their defense has been horrible in allowing a league-worst 111.6 PPG to their opponents on 48.7% shooting (2nd-worst in league). SG Kobe Bryant (26.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.3 SPG) has been one of the best scorers in the league, but is making a mere 38% of his shots while doing even worse (28%) from behind the arc. Over his 18 seasons in the NBA, Bryant has faced Memphis 62 times (55 starts) and put up 25.0 PPG (46% FG), 4.7 RPG, 4.4 APG and 1.7 SPG. C Jordan Hill (13.9 PPG, 10.0 RPG) has put together six straight double-doubles and has a total of eight on the season. He played four games (3 starts) against the Grizzlies last season, but averaged just 17.7 MPG while scoring 6.0 PPG (50% FG) with 4.5 RPG. PG Jeremy Lin (12.1 PPG, 4.9 APG) has been great in the past two games, hitting 16-of-26 shots (62% FG) for 17.5 PPG while adding 5.0 APG and 3.5 RPG. He scored 11.8 PPG on 43% shooting last season over four games (2 starts) against Memphis.


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