{"id":14801,"date":"2011-04-10T15:01:13","date_gmt":"2011-04-10T20:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=14801"},"modified":"2011-04-10T15:01:13","modified_gmt":"2011-04-10T20:01:13","slug":"battle-for-playoff-seeding-in-memphis-hornets-at-grizzlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/battle-for-playoff-seeding-in-memphis-hornets-at-grizzlies-14801\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle for Playoff Seeding In Memphis: Hornets at Grizzlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Orleans Hornets at Memphis Grizzlies
\nFedEx Forum, Memphis, Tennessee <\/strong>
\nSunday, April 10, 2011, 6:05 pm Eastern, TV: CST, SportsSouth, NBA League Pass
\nOpening Line: Grizzlies -6
\nCurrent Line: Grizzlies -4 1\/2
\nOpening Total: 186 1\/2
\nCurrent Total: 185 1\/2
\nMoney Line: MEM -180 \/ NOH +150<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Grizzlies host the Hornets in a crucial game for seeding in the Western Conference. The Grizzlies are 4 1\/2 point favorites. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Right now with most teams having 3 games to play, only San Antonio is locked into their spot. Positions 2-8 are still up for grabs. Only a game and a half separates #6 seed Portland from 8th seed Memphis, so any of the three could move up or down. New Orleans is a game ahead of Memphis with a 46-33 record for the seventh spot. A loss for for the 45-34\u00a0 Grizzlies would\u00a0 lock them into the 8th spot as they would be 2 games down with just 2 to play. The Hornets would hold the tiebreaker having one 3 of the 4 match-ups this season against the Grizzlies. However, if the Grizzlies win tonight they would be tied for 7th and the season series would be tied.<\/p>\n

New Orleans leads the season series 2-1 so far against Memphis. The Hornets won January 19 in New Orleans 103-102 in overtime and 98-91 at Memphis March 4. The Grizzlies won 93-81 April 1 in New Orleans. The Hornets have won three straight since then including a 109-97 home victory over phoenix Friday. They have games left at home versus Utah and at Dallas after tonight’s game. The Grizzlies have gone 8-2 int heir last 10 games. They have games at Portland and the L.A. Clippers after this.<\/p>\n

New Orleans is 7-4 straight up against Memphis the last 3 seasons but Memphis is 6-4-1 ATS in those games. The over is 6-5 in those games. The Hornets are 15-31 ATS in road games avenging a loss in the last 3 seasons. The Hornets are 54-81 ATS versus teams averaging 99 points a game or more the last 3 seasons. The Grizzlies are 50-28 ATS in all games this season, including 25-14 at home, and 27-13 against teams with winning records.<\/p>\n

Hornets Forward David West is out for the season with a knee injury. He was the team’s leading scorer with 18.9 points a game. He also averaged 7.6 rebounds. All-Star Point Guard Chris Paul averages 16.2 points, and leads the team in assists with 9.9 and steals with 2.4 a game. Emeka Okafor leads the team in rebounds with 9.6 a game and blocks with 1.8 a game, and scores 10.5 points a game. Carl Landry (12.3), Trevor Arizan (11.2) and Marco Belinelli (10.3) also score in double digit figures. The Hornets are outscoring opponents 95-94 on the season. New Orleans shoots 46.1% from the field and 35.8% from 3-point range. Hornet opponents are shooting 45.3% from the field. The Hornets shoot 76.8% from the free throw line. New Orleans\u00a0 averages 40.3 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +0.9. They average 20.6 assists and 13 turnovers a game. The Hornets force 14.5 turnovers a game on defense. New Orleans average 7.6 steals and 4.5 blocks a game.<\/p>\n

Memphis forward Rudy Gay is out for the season with a shoulder injury. He averaged 19.8 points a game.\u00a0 Grizzly guards Xavier Henry (knee) and Jason Williams (back) are both out indefinitely. Power Forward Zach Randolph leads the team in scoring with 20.1 points and rebounds with 12.3 a game. Point guard Mike Conley averages 13.8 points, and leads the team in assists with 6.6 a game. Center Marc Gasol averages 11.7 points a game and leads the team in blocks with 1.7 a game. O.J. Mayo scores 11.2 points a game. Tony Allen leads the team in steals with 1.8 a game. The Grizzlies are outscoring opponents 100-98 on the season. They are shooting 47% from the field and 32.8% from 3-point range. Memphis opponents are shooting 45.7% from the field. The Grizzlies make 75% of their free throws. Memphis averages 41 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +0.8. The Grizzlies average 20.6 assists and 13.9 turnovers a game. They force 16.8 turnovers a game on defense. Memphis averages 9.5 steals and 5.4 blocks a game.<\/p>\n

The injuries to West and Gay will certainly hurt these team’s chances in the playoffs but either of these teams could challenge the Spurs or Lakers in the first round. I think Memphis wins this game and covers as well.<\/p>\n

Our pro basketball handicappers are red hot as the playoffs approach. Check out our Pro Basketball odds page to find the best odds for this game and others.<\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Orleans Hornets at Memphis Grizzlies FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tennessee Sunday, April 10, 2011, 6:05 pm Eastern, TV: CST, SportsSouth, NBA League Pass Opening Line: Grizzlies -6 Current Line: Grizzlies -4 1\/2 Opening Total: 186 1\/2 Current Total: 185 1\/2 Money Line: MEM -180 \/ NOH +150 Right now with most teams having 3 games […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40249,"featured_media":5555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[3354,18,1828,2166,836,4795,4837,3693],"class_list":["post-14801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-nba-betting","tag-nba-handicapping-2","tag-new-orleans-hornets","tag-pro-basketball","tag-southwest-division","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14801"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14874,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14801\/revisions\/14874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}