Will the Grizzlies’ home winning streak continue?

The Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors open their Western Conference semifinal series on Sunday night starting at 9:30pm. The home side edged Minnesota 4-2 in the previous round and will now hope for home court advantage in Game 1.

Memphis Grizzlies – Statistics & current form

The Grizzlies will come out more tired than their opponent. Their last game of the 2022 playoffs against the Timberwolves went over Friday night, giving them two less days of recovery time compared to the Warriors.

The success in the series against Minnesota was also a hard piece of work: Head Coach Chris Finch’s team could only be defeated in six games. But the Grizzlies’ resilience and nerves of steel were remarkable.

In the last game, they won the fourth quarter with a clear 40:22 and once again managed to turn around an interim deficit.

Golden State Warriors – Statistics & Current Form

The Californians booked their place in the semi-finals after beating Denver 4-1. Although Nikola Jokic provided plenty of resistance, especially towards the end of the series, the injury-plagued Colorado franchise was clearly inferior to the Warriors in terms of squad width.

Head Coach Steve Kerr, on the other hand, can draw almost from the full range of personnel. Only the oldest player in the 2022 NBA Playoffs, 38-year-old Andre Iguodala on the wing and sophomore James Wiseman on five, were missing due to injury. The latter centre, however, has been unavailable for the entire season, which is why his absence has long been priced in by the Warriors anyway.

The six-time champions also showed good form against Denver, scoring an average of 118 points per game – their best performance in the postseason.

Memphis Grizzlies – Golden State Warriors Pick

For the clash between the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors in Game 1, betting on more than 19.5 points by Desmond Bane for the home side seems to be profitable.  The shooting guard has always been somewhat overshadowed by the newly crowned MIP Ja Morant in the Grizzlies’ media, but his performance in the previous series was worthy of all honours.

For example, the 23-year-old surpassed the selected limit in points in the past four games and delivered the most threes in the postseason (4.5)!

In the ranking, Bane is just ahead of Klay Thompson on the opposite side. Thanks in large part to his sure hand on outside attempts, he has an average scoring value of 23.5 per game in the postseason.

With this, the Indiana-born guard has improved his record from the regular season by more than five points. Head Coach Jenkins also seems to trust him more and more, as his playing time has also increased noticeably.