Despite registering just the third push of the season, as the Detroit Pistons landed flush on the -7.0 line, against the Sacramento Kings, yesterday’s second play continued a good recent run, as the Portland Trail Blazers survived a huge scare in the final two minutes, to complete the halftime/full-time winning double, for the 20th time in their last 22 wins. With the battle for playoff spots intensifying on a daily basis, The Big Dog sees the majority of Sunday’s nine-game card as just a little too close to call… but there is one game that should be anything but close… and it has been given clear “Play of the Day” billing.
Los Angeles Clippers @ Memphis Grizzlies
Before Marc Gasol went down for the season against the Portland Trail Blazers, on February 8th, it was looking very much like another standard 50-win season for the Memphis Grizzlies. They were going along their merry way at 30-21 and looked set for a finish around the number five seed, just like they always seem to do. Six weeks later, the patchwork Grizzlies still hold a 3.5 game lead in the Western Conference fifth seed… but there’s a deep sense of foreboding that it’s all about to go horribly pear-shaped. Only Southwest Division rivals, the New Orleans Pelicans, can hold a candle to their current injury crisis. Along with Gasol, Memphis are also sure to be without Mike Conley, P.J. Hairston, Chris Andersen, Brandon Wright and Jordan Adams through injury, with veterans Zach Randolph and Vince Carter also game-time decisions with knee and calf trouble. As if that wasn’t bad enough, forward Matt Barnes will also serve a one-match suspension for chasing Milwaukee Bucks centre John Henson into the locker room, after Henson was ejected from yesterdays game for taunting. Yet, in spite of all this, the Grizzlies still sit 3.5 games clear of sixth-placed Portland. How? Playing twelve games out of seventeen against losing teams and winning eight of those is certainly going to help… but they are now on what could be a season-defining four-game skid and have lost five of their last six games against teams with a winning record, including their last four by at least twelve points. The gravity of their current situation was never more evident than when they left Houston on Monday night, following a 49-point thrashing. It’s almost not worth even talking about the Clippers, who themselves have been inconsistent of late, albeit against elite opposition. They are relatively healthy and coming off a 16-point win over the same Rockets who beat the Grizzlies 130-81. It’s a long line… but it’s still way too short. The Clippers will romp this one in.
Selection
Los Angeles Clippers -9.5 @ $1.95 (William Hill)
Tools
Results Spreadsheet
