NBA Picks 3/31 – LA Clippers @ Memphis Grizzlies

NBA Picks 3/31 – LA Clippers @ Memphis Grizzlies

by Thomas Quaynor – NBA analyst for Wannamakeabet.com

The Los Angeles Clippers (41-36) and the Memphis Grizzlies (48-28) are facing each other for a second straight game in Memphis. The Clippers won 141-132 on Wednesday night behind a season-high 36 points from Russell Westbrook. Memphis was missing several key players in Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones, all of them are expected to play tonight.

Memphis is a 6.5-point favorite and the total is 233. The Clippers are currently 5th in the Western Conference and are a half game behind Phoenix for 4th place, which would give them home court advantage in the first round. Memphis appears to be locked in as the 2 seed in the West as they are three games behind Denver and two games ahead of Sacramento. 

THE SKINNY ON BOTH TEAMS

The Clippers are in year four of the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George era and they’ll head into the playoffs with huge questionmarks yet again as Paul George suffered a sprained knee during a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 23rd and has no timetable for a return. Kawhi Leonard is still load managing/injured even with the Clippers needing wins to get the 4 seed, he did not play against Memphis on Wednesday night and is questionable for tonight’s game. Paul George will end the season playing just 56 games, while Kawhi has played only 47 games up to this point. Imagine what the Clippers record would be if both of them could play 70+ games? 

The Clippers third leading scorer Norman Powell (16.6 ppg, 40.8% from 3) has missed 22 games and just returned from a shoulder injury that kept him out for almost a month. Nine-time All-Star, 2017 NBA MVP Russell Westbrook is coming off a season-high 36 points in the Wednesday’s win at Memphis and has dished out 10 assists in consecutive games for the Clippers. The Clippers may need Westbrook to display his 2017 MVP form in the playoffs if Kawhi and/or Paul George can’t play. 

The Memphis Grizzlies are on pace to finish second in the Western Conference for a second straight season despite having five key rotation players (Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr., Brandon Clarke, Steven Adams) missing at least 18 games.

They will not match last season’s 56-win total but the fact that they remain among the elite in the West is a great accomplishment. Fourth year guard and 2-time All-Star Ja Morant has continued his elite level of play this year putting up 26.9 points, 8.1 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.

Some off the court issues caused him to miss about three weeks of action but he’s rebounded well in the 4 games since his return, he’s scored 36 and 27 in his last two games where his minutes have gone back up. First time all-star Jaren Jackson Jr. is having his best season in year five averaging 17.9 ppg, 6.7 rebs, 1.1 stls and a league-leading 3.1 blocks per game.

THE PICK

In instances where teams are playing back-to-back games, the team who loses the first game usually comes back with a vengeance in the second game, so I’m Laying the 6.5 with Memphis tonight!!