Does Morant also carry the Grizzlies in LA?

The Los Angeles Clippers await the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night. The home side enter the new NBA season in a heavily clouded mood. The reason is the absence of Kawhi Leonard, who is recovering from a serious cruciate ligament injury and may not be used at all this season.

LA’s opener was once again against the Warriors, and they suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of the Frisco outfit. The visitors from the Southwest Division celebrated a strong opening win against Cleveland and showed that they want to have a say in the fight for the playoffs in the West.

For the game at Staples Center between the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies, the forecast includes an away win, including a +5.5 point handicap for the visitors.

LA Clippers – Statistics & current form

The Los Angeles Clippers continue to dream of winning the first title in franchise history, but once again this season that hope will not be fulfilled. Head coach Tyronn Lue’s squad cannot compensate for the aforementioned loss of the “Claw”.

The two-time champion and also two-time Finals MVP simply belongs to the rare category of irreplaceable players in the NBA. After making the semifinals two years ago and the Finals in the West last year, the basket-ballers from La-La Land are unlikely to make a deeper run in the postseason this time around, though there’s still hope in LA that Leonard could possibly be back on board for the playoffs after all.

George should fix it now

The main burden now falls on Paul George for the time being. The seven-time All-Star and gold medallist from 2016 with the US team at the Olympic Games in Brazil is entering his third season with the Clippers. He stepped up his game last season, increasing his stats in points, boards and assists.

Alongside Leonard, “Playoff P” is the franchise player in Los Angeles and he will now have to fill that role on his own for the time being.

Ibaka will also have to pass

For the Clippers, however, the personnel situation does not only look bad because of Kawhi. Spaniard Serge Ibaka is also missing at the centre position and power forward Nicolas Batum missed the opener against the Warriors due to personal reasons. As mentioned at the beginning, the game against Golden State ended with a narrow 113-115 defeat.

Here, the expected leader role of George could already be observed: The shooting guard delivered with 29 points and a double-double in points and rebounds the best performance on the side of the troops from the Pacific Division.

Furthermore, newcomer Eric Bledsoe, previously with the Pels, made a solid debut with 22 points, while the values in assists and boards remained expandable.

Projected LA Clippers lineup:
George – Bledsoe – Jackson – Zubac – Morris Sr.

Memphis Grizzlies – Statistics & current form

The Memphis Grizzlies look set to reap the rewards of a year-long rebuild even more this season. Last year, they made the playoffs for the first time since 2017. However, it was already over in the first round against the Utah Jazz: Head coach Taylor Jenkins’ team was clearly defeated 1:4.

This season, the young team from the Bluff City will undoubtedly make another leap forward. The biggest reason for that assessment is Ja Morant. In 2019, he was picked second overall in that year’s draft and after his first season, the point guard took home the award for best rookie.

He is now in his third season in the NBA and last season showed that he can continue to grow in potential. Morant increased his seasonal output to around 19 points in the previous year and in the playoffs the youngster showed impressively that he is particularly well equipped for this particular phase of the season.

Morant with at least 25 points?

Morant followed up his fantastic performance from those games last Thursday when he scored no less than 37 points in the opener against Cleveland. With this in mind, the odds of him scoring more than 24.5 points in the Clippers’ game against Memphis are also interesting.

All in all, you could tell that the Memphis team has set its sights very high for the new season. A whopping 73 points were scored in the first two quarters alone – the fifth-highest total in franchise history.

In view of the strong opening game with 132 points, bets on at least 112 points by the visitors in the duel between the LA Clippers and Grizzlies also have value.

Predicted Memphis Grizzlies lineup:
Morant – Jackson Jr – Adams – Bane – Melton

LA Clippers – Memphis Grizzlies Head-to-head / H2H record

The last time the teams faced each other was last August in the Las Vegas Summer League. At that time, the basketball players from the Big Bend State prevailed against LA with 104:95. In the past NBA season, however, the Californians had the edge in the balance: they won two of the three duels.

The home side can also take heart from the Clippers’ recent home record in this pairing: they have won six of their past eight home games. For the next edition of the duel between the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies, the odds are already leaning moderately in the direction of a home win.

LA Clippers – Memphis Grizzlies Tip

The Grizzlies start a four-game West Coast trip with this game against the Clippers. The prospects of them ending up with multiple wins in the bag are very good. The men from the “Grindhouse” won the opener against Cleveland and showed that they are once again a candidate for the playoffs.

For the Clippers’ clash against the Grizzlies, the tip is for an away win or at best a narrow defeat for the visitors with no more than a five-point difference.

This is also supported by the fact that the home side will be without Kawhi Leonard, which has weakened them considerably. In addition, other players such as Ibaka on the five are out due to injury.

The effects were already visible in the preseason when three of the four games were lost and sometimes very clearly like against Minnesota with 28 points in difference, while the only win against Denver was exceedingly close with 103:102.

On top, the visitors have a physical advantage, because the Clippers had one day less of regeneration time. Unibet offers odds of 1.72 on the Los Angeles vs Memphis match-up for the prediction