Logic says that the Los Angeles Clippers (37-19) shouldn’t be coming up with many wins with Blake Griffin on the injury list. But the Clippers have clearly defied logic over their last few games, even putting up a win streak just to prove that with or without Griffin, the team won’t fold that easily. But will the Griffin-less Clippers overcome the Memphis Grizzlies (40-14), who’ve won eight of their last 10 games?
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Memphis Grizzlies vs. Los Angeles Clippers Preview
The Grizzlies are back to their winning ways. After picking up a 105-89 setback at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 11, the Grizzlies bounced right back, beating the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, 98-92. It was Memphis’ eighth victory in its last 10 games overall.
[sc:NBA240banner ]As usual, Marc Gasol led the team to the win by scoring 21 points and adding six rebounds against Portland. It was a nice pick-me-up performance by Gasol, who came up with only eight points on 2-for-10 shooting in the loss to the Thunder. His frontcourt buddy in Zach Randolph, meanwhile, almost had a double-double against the Blazers, putting up 15 points and grabbing a team-high nine boards.
Led by Gasol and Randolph, the Grizzlies has become the best inside-scoring team in the league, as they are averaging 47.4 points in the paint per game.
In the Grizzlies’ 107-91 win over the the Clippers back in November, Memphis paid no respect to LA’s interior defense by putting up 52 points inside the shaded area, 26 of which were from the combined production of Gasol and Randolph, who finished the game with 30 and 10 points, respectively. Look for Memphis to dump the ball a lot of times to those two players against the Clippers’ depleted frontcourt that is already missing Griffin.
Memphis is No. 1 in the league in scoring defense with only 95.7 PPG allowed to opponents thus far this season.
The under is 3-0 in the Grizzlies’ last three road games.
The Clippers are playing well despite missing Blake Griffin. The team is currently on a win streak that has been extended to four games after the Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings 126-99 on Saturday. It will be another stiff challenge for the Clippers to keep that streak alive when they host Memphis for their next game.
Without Griffin, the Clippers need everyone to step up to soften the blow of the star forward’s absence—especially on offense, where Griffin contributes 22.5 PPG. Against the Kings, it was Austin Rivers, who responded to the challenge, finishing the game with a career-high 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting from the field. J.J. Redick, on the other hand, put up 24 points, which includes going 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
Together, Rivers and Redick combined for nine of the Clippers’ 14 total three pointers. They will have to keep draining shots from the outside to loosen Memphis’ tight inside defense, thus giving extra space for the likes of DeAndre Jordan and Spencer Hawes to operate down low.
Redick and Jordan have been two of the Clippers’ top scorers over the team’s current win streak with 20.8 PPG and 18.5 PPG, respectively.
On defense, stopping the Gasol-Randolph tandem is the clear top priority for LA. The Clips can try to pack the painted area with bodies and gamble leaving some of the Grizzlies’ outside shooters open. After all, the Grizzlies are shooting an ugly 24.6% from downtown over their last five games, the worst in the league during that stretch.
The Clippers are 3-0 ATS in their last three home games.
