{"id":22900,"date":"2012-04-29T09:30:29","date_gmt":"2012-04-29T14:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=22900"},"modified":"2012-04-29T08:50:49","modified_gmt":"2012-04-29T13:50:49","slug":"2012-nba-playoff-predictions-los-angeles-clippers-vs-memphis-grizzlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/2012-nba-playoff-predictions-los-angeles-clippers-vs-memphis-grizzlies-22900\/","title":{"rendered":"2012 NBA Playoff Predictions: Los Angeles Clippers vs. Memphis Grizzlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Clippers at Memphis Grizzlies
\nSunday, 4\/29\/12, 9:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 TNT
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Memphis -3.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Memphis -5.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 185
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 183.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Los Angeles Clippers PF Blake Griffin gets his first taste of the NBA playoffs on Sunday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Los Angeles is making its first playoff berth since the 2005-06 campaign, ending the second longest active postseason drought in the NBA.\u00a0 The Clippers had an opportunity to gain home-court advantage in this series, but elected to rest All-Star point guard Chris Paul in the final regular-season game, as he suffered a mild groin strain on Tuesday.\u00a0 He averaged 19.8 points and 9.1 assists per game and appeared in 23 career playoff games during his time with the New Orleans Hornets.\u00a0 Los Angeles is 4-7 as a road underdog of 3.5 to 6 points, with the \u201cunder\u201d being 8-4 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Clippers have another major offensive weapon in power forward Blake Griffin, who averaged 20.7 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, as he gets set to make his postseason debut.\u00a0 He was one of two players in the league to average 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds per game.\u00a0 Los Angeles did a great job of taking care of the basketball with Paul in tow, finishing second in the league with just 13.33 turnovers per game.\u00a0 The squad also registered the fifth-best mark (22-17) versus teams with a .500 or better record.<\/p>\n

Memphis has won six straight games and 11 of its last 13 entering the playoffs, as the franchise managed to end the year tying a franchise record with 11 straight home wins.\u00a0 The Grizzlies were 26-7 at the FedExForum this year, and was led by a defense that paced the league in steals.\u00a0 \u201cThis team is built on defense,\u201d stated Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo.\u00a0 The squad also possesses one of the best front lines in basketball, with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph manning the paint.\u00a0 Memphis is 0-4 ATS when playing on two days rest.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies are led offensively by small forward Rudy Gay, who averaged a team-high 19.0 points, which ranked 17th in the league.\u00a0 Memphis did drop two of three meetings to Los Angeles during the regular season, with all three games going \u201cunder\u201d the total.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to note that it tallied a 94-85 victory as 4.5-point home favorites in the final meeting on April 9.\u00a0 With Randolph\u2019s help, the bench is one of the best in basketball, averaging 36.1 points over the final 18 games.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Grizzlies due to their 4-1 ATS mark as a favorite in the playoffs, while the Clippers are 1-4 ATS in their last five games on three or more days of rest.<\/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":"

Los Angeles Clippers at Memphis Grizzlies Sunday, 4\/29\/12, 9:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 TNT Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Memphis -3.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Memphis -5.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 185 Current Total:\u00a0 183.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Los Angeles is making its first playoff berth since the 2005-06 campaign, ending the second longest active postseason drought in the NBA.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":15665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[749,837,4145,1371,3354,18,2068],"class_list":["post-22900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-blake-griffin","tag-chris-paul","tag-fedexforum","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-rudy-gay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22900","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=22900"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22902,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22900\/revisions\/22902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}