The Nets enter Monday’s matchup against Western Conference foe Memphis as a home underdog.
Injuries will play a factor in this game, as Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart will still be sidelined for Memphis after suffering injuries against Brooklyn.
The Nets are also still missing Bojan Bogdanovic and Day’Ron Sharpe.
Memphis has looked like a completely different team in its past two outings, winning by an average of 20 points per game against the Bucks and Sixers.
But does that two-game stretch mean anything since Milwaukee has started just 1-5, and Philly is without Joel Embiid and Paul George?
Well, yes, it does mean something.
During the stretch, Memphis destroyed both teams on the glass and in the paint.
Those two areas of the game were its bread and butter during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons when it finished as the No. 2 seed in the West.
The Grizzlies have also made a much more concerted effort on the defensive end of the floor, holding their past two opponents to a combined 41.6 percent shooting from the field (third in the NBA) and 31.8 percent from behind the arc (fifth in the NBA).
Further, in those two games, they have the second-highest net rating and highest true shooting percentage of any team in the NBA.
The loss to Brooklyn at home woke the Grizzlies up.
Now, the Grizz are playing with a sense of purpose and urgency, which makes them extraordinarily frightening, even without Bane, Smart, and a few other rotational pieces.
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That speaks to the depth of this team. I’ll lay the points with Memphis.
THE PICK: Grizzlies -4.5 (-115, BetMGM)
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Andrew Norton handicaps the NBA, WNBA, NFL, college basketball and football, UFC and golf. During the 2022-23 NBA season, he achieved a standout 14.1% ROI, cashing 60% of his NBA spread picks and leading Tallysight in its SportsIQ metric.
