{"id":15378,"date":"2011-05-11T11:50:14","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T16:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=15378"},"modified":"2011-05-11T11:50:14","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T16:50:14","slug":"game-5-betting-memphis-grizzlies-at-oklahoma-city-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/game-5-betting-memphis-grizzlies-at-oklahoma-city-thunder-15378\/","title":{"rendered":"Game 5 Betting: Memphis Grizzlies At Oklahoma City Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memphis Grizzlies AT Oklahoma City Thunder<\/strong>
\nMay 11, 2011 at 9:30 PM EST<\/strong>
\nOpening Line:\u00a0 OKC -5.5<\/strong>
\nCurrent Line:\u00a0 OKC -6.5<\/strong>
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 198<\/strong>
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 197<\/strong>
\nOpening Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -215, MEM +185<\/strong>
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -295, MEM +245<\/strong><\/p>\n

Series Tied 2-2<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Just when you thought Westbrook couldn't possibly attempt more shots...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If exciting games are your thing, as it is with most fans, you really couldn’t have asked for much more excitement than the triple overtime thriller that the Thunder and Grizzlies put on Monday night.\u00a0 After matching offensive outputs in regulation due to a long three by Mike Conley, the teams went toe to toe before the Grizzlies put them away 14-4 in the third extra period.\u00a0 The obvious corollary of this is going to be two tired teams tonight, but Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins rationalized that both teams are facing the same daunting struggle tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a lot of rest but it\u2019s not a lot for each team,\u201d Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said. \u201cI\u2019m sure they\u2019ll have a little more bounce in their step being at home and having won this game versus us having lost it. But we\u2019ll be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

A loss would have put the Thunder on the brink of elimination, but instead they find themselves tied and with home court advantage back in their hands as today’s game 5 and a deciding game 7, if necessary, will again of course be in Oklahoma City.\u00a0 Scott Brooks likes the outlook from here:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels much better being 2-2 and Game 5 on our home floor. It would have been a tough mountain to climb being down 3-1. Not impossible, but very tough,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited. Guys, there\u2019s plenty of energy in their bodies. They\u2019re going to have energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the uneven end scores, if this were played as a cumulative total (as they do in Euro soccer sometimes), the score would be 440-438, Oklahoma City.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re very even as you can see. Every game has really showed that,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cBoth teams are very good and both teams, it\u2019s even. It\u2019s even. It\u2019s why we\u2019re 2-2. It\u2019s two very good teams getting after each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once again, Russell Westbrook hogged the ball with frequency.\u00a0 He put up 33 shots and scored a postseason career high 40 points, but often he looked to force drives and shots when nothing was really there.\u00a0 Perhaps he feels he HAS TO do this given the offensive deficiencies of 3 of the Thunder’s 5 starters (Perkins, Sefolosha, and Ibaka).\u00a0 Westbrook and Durant combined for 75 points, 5 times the offensive output of the other three starters’ combined.\u00a0 Brooks realizes that even with only two prime time scorers, the Thunder at an advantage compared to most teams…<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you put a guy on Kevin, that means that guy\u2019s not helping. They\u2019re not leaving Kevin. And when they throw an extra defender on Kevin, that means you have a mini fast break on the weak side, and that allows Russell and our guys to create,\u201d Brooks said.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies received 76 points from THREE starters (Conley, Randolph, and Marc Gasol).\u00a0 But it was the Grizzlies bench that provided the surprise spark that brought them back into the game.\u00a0 O.J. Mayo and Greivous Vasquez combined for 32 off the bench and outscored starters Tony Allen and Sam Young, who managed only 6 points between themselves (Young failed to score) while going 3 of 14 from the floor.<\/p>\n

With both teams having a couple of non-scoring starters on the court, it becomes less important, but the Grizzlies must get a better game from Zach Randolph if they are going to win in Oklahoma City.\u00a0 He shot 9 of 25 from the floor (36%) and played 56 minutes.\u00a0 He’s going to have to dig into his reserves to pull a good game out tonight.<\/p>\n

Some betting trends:<\/p>\n

Memphis is 15-8 in their last 23 games and the Grizziles are 17-5-1 ATS in their last 23 games.\u00a0 The total has gone OVER\u00a0 in 6 of Memphis’ last 7 games while the Grizzlies are 2-5 SU in their last 7 on the road.\u00a0 Memphis is 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 games on the road and the total has gone OVER in 6 of Memphis’ last 7 games on the road.\u00a0 The total has also gone OVER\u00a0 in 8 of Memphis’ last 9 games against the Thunder.\u00a0 Memphis is 4-2 SU in their last 6 against OKC and the Grizzlies aer 7-16-1 ATS in their last 24 games on the road in OKC.\u00a0 The total has gone OVER\u00a0 in all 5 of the last 5 road games in OKC.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City is 2-3-1 ATS in their last 6 games and 11-4 SU in their last 15 games.\u00a0 The total has gone OVER in 4 of OKC’s last 6 games at home and the Thunder are 10-2 SU in their last 12 games at home.\u00a0 Oklahoma City is 4-8-1 ATS in their last 13 games at home.\u00a0 The total has gone OVER in 8 of OKC’s last 9 games against Memphis and the Thunder are 2-4 SU in their last 6 games against Memphis.\u00a0 The Thunder are 2-4 ATS in their last 6 against Grizzlies and they are 18-7 SU in their last 25 at home against Memphis.\u00a0 The total has gone OVER\u00a0 in all 5 of the last 5 games at home against the Grizzlies.<\/p>\n

Tonight’s game will offer insight as to which team has the quickest recovery time.\u00a0 Both teams have “young legs,” though, so it might not be as bad as some expect.\u00a0 I don’t think the 57 minutes took too much out of Durant, whose game is so effortless due to his immense talent.\u00a0 Westbrook’s overzealous offensive approach needs to be curtailed though to get his teammates more involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memphis Grizzlies AT Oklahoma City Thunder May 11, 2011 at 9:30 PM EST Opening Line:\u00a0 OKC -5.5 Current Line:\u00a0 OKC -6.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 198 Current Total:\u00a0 197 Opening Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -215, MEM +185 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -295, MEM +245 Series Tied 2-2 If exciting games are your thing, as it is with most fans, you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40250,"featured_media":9295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[1193,3354,3592,399,3298,1319],"class_list":["post-15378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-kevin-durant","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-mike-conley","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-russell-westbrook","tag-zach-randolph"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15378","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\/40250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15378"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15380,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15378\/revisions\/15380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}