{"id":21532,"date":"2012-02-05T11:00:26","date_gmt":"2012-02-05T16:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=21532"},"modified":"2012-02-05T11:00:26","modified_gmt":"2012-02-05T16:00:26","slug":"nba-predictions-memphis-grizzlies-vs-boston-celtics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nba-predictions-memphis-grizzlies-vs-boston-celtics-21532\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Predictions: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Boston Celtics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memphis Grizzlies at Boston Celtics
\nSunday, 2\/5\/12, 12:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 NBATV
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Boston -5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Boston -4
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 180
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 176.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Heat<\/a>
Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce averaged 25.0 points per game in two meetings with the Memphis Grizzlies a year ago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Memphis will close out a three-game road trip in taking on the Boston Celtics inside the TD Garden, coming off a 101-94 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder as 8.5-point underdogs.\u00a0 The Grizzlies have won \u201cunder\u201d the total in seven of their last eight games and have covered their last three contests.\u00a0 Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins was unhappy with this squad\u2019s intensity in the fourth quarter last time out, getting outscored by a sizable 32-17 margin.\u00a0 \u201cThey were driving to the basketball well,\u201d he commented after the game.\u00a0 Memphis is 6-6 ATS as an underdog this season.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies need to shoot the ball much better Sunday in order to stay competitive against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, hitting just 40.4 percent of their shots over the past seven games.\u00a0 Memphis continues to get solid production from forward Rudy Gay, who poured in 23 points versus the Thunder, while center Marc Gasol scored a team-high 24 points.\u00a0 The franchise will have covered 3,726 air miles in playing three games in four days during this current trip.<\/p>\n

Boston is starting to get healthy as an entire roster for the first time during the 2011-12 campaign, winning seven of its past eight games, which includes a 91-89 win over the New York Knicks as 6.5-point home favorites.\u00a0 The Celtics were very happy in getting point guard Rajon Rondo back on the floor after missing eight games with a right wrist injury, scoring seven points and dishing out seven assists.\u00a0 He managed to register 28 assists and 17 points in two meetings with the Grizzlies last year.\u00a0 Boston is 0-3 ATS as a home favorite of 3.5 to 6 points this year.<\/p>\n

The Celtics have four players that average in double figures, with forward Paul Pierce leading the way in scoring 18.5 points per game.\u00a0 Boston is 8-6 at home this season, but dropped all three previous contests against Western Conference foes.\u00a0 These two teams split the season series in 2010-11, with Pierce leading the way in averaging 25.0 points per game, while guard Ray Allen chipped in with 14.5 points per contest.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Grizzlies due to their 10-3 ATS mark on Sundays, while the Celtics are 2-8 ATS versus Southwest division teams.<\/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 Boston Celtics Sunday, 2\/5\/12, 12:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 NBATV Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Boston -5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Boston -4 Opening Total:\u00a0 180 Current Total:\u00a0 176.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Memphis will close out a three-game road trip in taking on the Boston Celtics inside the TD Garden, coming off a 101-94 defeat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[120,6428,3622,3354,846,2068,3917,3693],"class_list":["post-21532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-boston-celtics","tag-d","tag-eastern-conference","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-paul-pierce","tag-rudy-gay","tag-td-garden","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21532","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=21532"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21534,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21532\/revisions\/21534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}