Memphis Grizzlies vs. Oklahoma City Thunder — Tuesday, April 29
BetAnySports’ Betting Line: Thunder -7 and the Total is 186
Everyone knew that No. 7 Memphis was going to be a tough out in its opening round best-of-seven series against No. 2 Oklahoma City and that is exactly the case heading into Tuesday night’s Game 5. The Grizzlies actually had a chance to take a commanding lead in this series, but things got evened up at two games apiece in Saturday’s thrilling 92-89 overtime loss in a game that ended as a PUSH on BetAnySports’ closing line.
Memphis is 2-1-1 against the spread in this series and the total has been evenly split 2-2. BetAnySports has listed the Grizzlies as six-point road underdogs for this matchup with the total set at 186.5. What they need to avoid is a huge swing in momentum after coming up short in Game 4, but you have to believe that this team will be ready to go for Tuesday’s 9 p.m. (ET) tip. They quickly bounced back from a lopsided 100-86 loss in Game 1 as 7.5-point road underdogs with overtime victories in the next two games.
Oklahoma City may have gotten caught looking past this series in its quest for a NBA title, but you have to believe that Memphis has its full attention in what boils down to a best-of-three affair. The biggest difference in Saturday’s overtime win than the first three games of this series was the added effort from the Thunders’ bench to get that win. It had been the Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook show until Reggie Jackson pumped-in 32 points in Game 4 to pace the much needed victory.
Durant has led the way in this series with 28.5 points per game and Westbrook is a close second with 24.2 points, but these two combined for just 30 points this past Saturday night. The Thunder are going to need some additional support to regain the edge in this series with Durant shooting 39.6 percent from the field and Westbrook hitting just 35.1 percent of his shots from the floor. These two have really struggled from 3-point range and the team as a whole is shooting just 25.5 percent from beyond the arc.
It is hard to see Oklahoma City losing this game on its home court, but given the nature of this series with the last three games ending-up tied at the end of regulation, I will gladly take Memphis and the six points on BetAnySports’ betting odds for this matchup.
