Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder Meet in Critical Game 3 of Semifinals
The Memphis Grizzlies are 5.5-point favorites on their home court against the Oklahoma City Thunder today in the pivotal Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals. The Grizzlies know that if they can get past the Thunder, they have a great chance of making the NBA Finals, though they aren’t underestimating their current opponent.
“You hear it, but we doing a good job focusing,” Memphis forward Zach Randolph said. “We don’t let that get to us. We don’t worry about what people say. We focus and take each game one game at a time and focus on the game.”
“We’ve still got to do our part here at home,” Grizzlies guard Mike Conley said. “We got to do our part and try to win both games at home in order for that road win to mean something.”
Since Russell Westbrook went down with an injury, the entire scoring burden for the Thunder has fallen on the shoulders of Kevin Durant. The Grizzlies have done a good job of blanketing him so far in the series, though they know they have to stop the Thunder’s role players too.
“When he’s a playmaker, we got to do a better job helping and getting out to their shooters like Derek and then Jackson and Martin, all those guys who’ve been hitting 3s against us. So we got to do a lot better job at that,” Conley said. “And if we can do that, we have a great chance to win.”
The reason that so many are picking the Grizzlies to make it to the Finals has everything to do with their ferocious offensive capabilities in the paint with their twin big men Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph.
“They have a very good team that has an inside-outside attack,” OKC coach Scott Brooks said. “We have to make sure that we control Conley much better than we did in the second game. Our bigs, our smalls, our wings, everybody’s going to have to do a great job defensively to stop them from getting on a run.”
You can never count out the Thunder so long as Durant is on the floor, though Memphis appears to have the series right where they want it. Their home floor advantage is also one of the best in the league; I would anticipate they both win and cover the spread this afternoon.
Here are some other betting trends for both teams heading into today’s game, courtesy of OddsShark.com:
Oklahoma City Thunder Trends:
When playing on Saturday are 7-3
Before playing Memphis are 7-3
After playing Memphis are 5-5
After a loss are 8-2
Memphis Grizzlies Trends:
When playing on Saturday are 7-3
Before playing Oklahoma City are 7-3
After playing Oklahoma City are 7-3
After a win are 6-4
A few Thunder at Grizzlies trends to consider:
Oklahoma City is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Oklahoma City’s last 11 games
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Oklahoma City’s last 11 games on the road
Oklahoma City is 15-6 SU in its last 21 games
Memphis is 17-1 SU in its last 18 games at home
Memphis is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Memphis’s last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Memphis’s last 15 games at home
