Portland Trail Blazers vs. Memphis Grizzlies – 8/15/20 NBA Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers meet Saturday in NBA play-in game action at the HP Field House.

The Memphis Grizzlies need a victory here to force another play-in game on Sunday. The Memphis Grizzlies are averaging 112.6 points on 46.8 percent shooting and allowing 113.7 points on 45 percent shooting. Ja Morant is averaging 17.8 points and 7.3 assists while Jaren Jackson Jr. is averaging 17.4 points and 4.6 rebounds. Dillon Brooks is the third double-digit scorer and Jonas Valanciunas is grabbing 11.3 rebounds. The Memphis Grizzlies are shooting 34.7 percent from beyond the arc and 76.3 percent from the free thitem line. The Memphis Grizzlies are allowing 36.5 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 46.5 rebounds per game.

The Portland Trail Blazers advance to the playoffs for a seventh straight season if they win this game. The Portland Trail Blazers are averaging 115 points on 46.3 percent shooting and allowing 116.1 points on 45.6 percent shooting. Damian Lillard is averaging 30 points and eight assists while CJ McCollum is averaging 22.2 points and 4.2 rebounds. Jusuf Nurkic is the third double-digit scorer and Hassan Whiteside is grabbing 13.5 rebounds. The Portland Trail Blazers are shooting 37.7 percent from beyond the arc and 80.4 percent from the free thitem line. The Portland Trail Blazers are allowing 38.3 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 45.3 rebounds per game.

The Grizzlies are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games playing on 1 days rest, 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog and 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games overall. The Trail Blazers are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games as a favorite, 2-11-3 ATS in their last 16 Saturday games and 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games overall. The under is 16-5 in Grizzlies last 21 overall. The over is 24-8 in Trail Blazers last 32 overall.

The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Trail Blazers back in February and then took them to overtime in the bubble, so they can play with them when on top of their game. The issue here is the Grizzlies look nothing like the team from the regular season and have stunk up the joint for the most part of their last 10 games. The Portland Trail Blazers continue to struggle defensively and it feels like all of their games come down to the wire. There’s a case to be made for the points. However, this is pretty much a playoff game, and the Trail Blazers are not only the more talented team, but they’re far more experienced. The Trail Blazers also know that they cant play around and be forced to play any more basketball than they have to if they want a shot at being competitive against the Los Angeles Lakers. I expect the Trail Blazers to play one of their better games yet.

I’ll lay the reasonable chalk.