{"id":20936,"date":"2012-01-08T12:48:33","date_gmt":"2012-01-08T17:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=20936"},"modified":"2012-01-08T13:04:42","modified_gmt":"2012-01-08T18:04:42","slug":"grizzlies-vs-lakers-kobe-bryant-welcomes-in-memphis-into-the-staples-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/grizzlies-vs-lakers-kobe-bryant-welcomes-in-memphis-into-the-staples-center-20936\/","title":{"rendered":"Grizzlies vs. Lakers: Kobe Bryant Welcomes Memphis into the Staples Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memphis Grizzlies at Los Angeles Lakers
\nSunday, 1\/8\/12, 9:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FSW
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Los Angeles -7.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Los Angeles -7
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 184.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 182.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Memphis Grizzlies C Marc Gasol will have to do the heavy lifting without Zach Randolph Sunday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Memphis will close out its three-game road trip in Los Angeles Sunday and will look to bounce back from a 94-85 loss to the Utah Jazz.\u00a0 The Grizzlies have fallen \u2018under\u2019 the total in three of four games.\u00a0 \u201cWe got to get better at the end, especially on the road,\u201d stated Grizzlies center Marc Gasol.\u00a0 \u201cWe got to be better executing and knowing our scheme defensively.\u201d\u00a0 The team split its four games with the Lakers a year ago, while tallying a dreadful 6-24 mark on the road in this series.\u00a0 Memphis is 14-5 ATS when playing on Sunday the last two-plus years.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies will be trying to make due without star forward Zach Randolph for the next eight weeks, as he\u2019s out for eight weeks with a partially torn medial collateral knee ligament.\u00a0 Memphis has been known to overcome injuries, especially after losing Rudy Gay for most of the 2010-11 season.\u00a0 Randolph was leading the squad in scoring and rebounding through the first four games of the year.\u00a0 Gasol will have to pick up the slack and build on his 21-point and 11 rebound effort against the Jazz.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles has alternated wins and losses over its past five games, capturing a 97-90 victory over the Golden State Warriors as 10.5-point home favorites.\u00a0 The Lakers have failed to cover the spread in four of their last five games.\u00a0 Star guard Kobe Bryant finished the last contest with a season-high 39 points and has averaged 32.7 points over his last seven home games.\u00a0 \u201cWe went through stretches where we couldn\u2019t score, and so he carried us,\u201d stated Lakers first-year head coach Mike Brown about Bryant\u2019s latest effort.\u00a0 Los Angeles is 43-61 ATS at home the last two-plus seasons.<\/p>\n

The Lakers have won all five of their games this year inside the Staples Center, posting a 5-1 mark at home and 0-3 record on the road.\u00a0 Los Angeles has won four of its last five home games in this series and is 16-6 all-time at the Staples Center versus Memphis.\u00a0 Center Andrew Bynum has played well since returning from a suspension to open the season, but is wasting opportunities at the free throw line, shooting less than 60 percent.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Grizzlies due to their 18-8 ATS mark in the last 26 meetings, while the Lakers are 2-9 ATS versus Western Conference foes.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NBA handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memphis Grizzlies at Los Angeles Lakers Sunday, 1\/8\/12, 9:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FSW Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Los Angeles -7.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Los Angeles -7 Opening Total:\u00a0 184.5 Current Total:\u00a0 182.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Memphis will close out its three-game road trip in Los Angeles Sunday and will look to bounce back from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":15669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[67,68,1318,3354,18,3624,3693],"class_list":["post-20936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-marc-gasol","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-staples-center","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20936","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\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20936"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20938,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20936\/revisions\/20938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}