With the 2015 NBA Playoffs now into the Second Round, this Sunday the 3rd of May we have the Second Round – Game 1 of the Western Conference between the No. 5 seed Grizzlies of Memphis playing the No. 1 seed Warriors of Golden State with this Game 1 played at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California at 3:35 PM ET and seen on ABC TV.
The Warriors of Golden State playing at home are early favorites with the Vegas oddsmakers opening the betting odds at -10 with the Total 197 ½ and -600 on the Money Line, with the comeback on the Grizzlies of Memphis at +10 and +450 on the Money Line.
With this being the 1st Game of this seven game series, let’s take a look at the rest of the 7 game schedule for this Western Conference Second Round. The 2nd game in California is to be played on Tuesday the 5th of May 2015 at 10:30 PM ET with the Grizzlies at the Warriors. The 3rd Game in Memphis is on Saturday the 9th of May, with the Warriors at Memphis at 8:10 PM ET. The 4th Game is on Monday the 11th of May at Memphis with the Warriors again at Memphis with the tip-off at 9:40 PM ET. The 5th Game (if needed) will be played on Wednesday the 13th of May in California with the Grizzlies at the Warriors and time TBD. The 6th Game (if needed) will be played in Memphis on Friday the 15th of May with Warriors at Memphis and time TBD. The Final 7th Game (if needed will be played in California on Sunday the 17th of May 2015 with the time TBD.
For those that will Bet on NBA and the Grizzlies of Memphis, take note. In the first round the Grizzlies played their game and won the series but the facial injury to M. Conley, their talented guard in this 1st game of round 2, could become problematic for the Memphis as the take on the Warriors and the noted splash brothers. The Big question in the game is can the warn Grizzlies handle the streaking offense of the Golden State. Conley was very versatile and important player in the regular season in points, rebounds, assists and steals and in the Round 1 of the playoffs he average 16 points and shot 50 percent of his shots from the field.
However, let’s not forget their 1-2 punch with N. Calathes and B. Udrih who both have played well in the 1st round with Calathes averaging 2 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 6.8 points per game, while Udrih has average some 9.5 point per game shooting 49% from the field. With Conley out the Grizzlies will depend on their frontcourt players in M. Gasol and Z. Randolph for scoring as Randolph has had 8.5 rebounds and averaged 14 points shooting some 36% from the field while M. Gasol has averaged in the 1st Round some 2.4 blocks, 5.2 assists, 9.3 rebounds and 20.5 points. In their ten (10) games against Golden State the Grizzlies of Memphis are 7 and 3 against the spread.
If you’re a Warriors of Golden State fan, you must know that your team has been on fire as of late, especially in the 1st round as they showed their talent by taking the Pelicans of New Orleans in just 4 games to win that Round 1 series, and that included a Game 3 that went in to OT and was filled with excitement throughout the game, as the Warriors came from a deficit in the game to a win in the game.
The Warriors star S. Curry has been playing his best and leads his team is scoring in Round 1 averaging 33.9 point for each game. He also has averaged 7.4 assists and has averaged 5-3 pointers in each game in the playoffs. It is expected that with Conley out for the Grizzlies it would be difficult to thing that Curry would not explode in this 1st game or 2nd game of the Round 2 series.
Curry’s teammate and splash brother K. Thompson cut meet a strong defense id the Grizzlies guard him with T. Allen who against Memphis as average 2.5 steals per game in the 1st round and in one game had 5 steals. Still Thompson in the 2014-15 regular seasons averages some 30.8 points against the Grizzlies. Then they will put their key defender A. Bogout to defend against the Grizzlies M. Gasol and slow him down. In the paint he can change the game as he has averaged blocking 2.2 shots per game in the playoffs to date. In the 2014-15 seasons the Warriors managed to 5 of their 7 ultimate home games playing the Grizzlies at home.
The Media experts are predicting the first game to be close with the Grizzlies covering, but the Warriors winning Game 1, and the Warriors win the Series in the 7th game of what should be a very exciting Round 2 Playoff Series.