Two teams that are currently making a splash and cannot be left out of today’s NBA tip are the Dallas Mavericks and the Memphis Grizzlies! Will the visitors get their revenge?
Although the Dark Blues are currently beating up on just about everything in their path, there are good reasons why they lost to the Mavs recently – I’ll go into those in more detail in my Mavericks Grizzlies prediction!
These Grizzlies are firing on all cylinders! Last night they even managed to defeat the Denver Nuggets! Ja Morant and his teammates have now won 13 of their last 15 games.
The reason why today’s game of the young savages arouses my interest has primarily to do with the upcoming opponent. Because they were responsible for one of the only two defeats Memphis had to take during the last weeks – and what a defeat.
Because what no other team was able to do, the Mavs managed to do just seven days ago! The Grizzlies, who are usually known for running up the score themselves, were largely outplayed that night by a 27-point margin!
The official NBA statistics are unmistakable as far as the visitors’ offence is concerned! Because over the last 10 NBA games, the Timberwolves have been very reminiscent of the Harlem Globetrotters on the road! An average of 115.0 points per game over this period is the fourth-best output in the league!
All the more astonishing that Ja Morant and his team were crushed by the Mavs less than a week ago. Because in the defeat, the offensive performance was not very good with only 85 points. According to an old football adage, you are only as good as your opponent allows you to be.
This saying fits like a glove to explain what went wrong in the last encounter. Because if there’s one thing the Mavs know how to do, it’s put together a burglar-proof defence – and they proved that impressively a week ago.
The Mavs’ defence, directed by centre Dwight Powell, knows how to read the opposition early. Furthermore, they were able to render Ja Morant harmless the last time they met – which, by the way, usually results in an automatic victory over the Grizzlies!
But the Mavericks have certainly not saved their defensive skills just for this match. During the last ten games, they allowed an average of only 97 points, which is an outstanding figurehead for their defensive behaviour.
By comparison, Memphis, while stout offensively, has allowed an average of 13 more points per game over the same period. But Dallas’ strengths include other qualities that will also trouble the visitors.
A strong defence thrives on its ability to grab rebounds, and that’s exactly where the Mavs could take the visitors down a peg or two. And that despite the fact that the Grizzlies have grabbed the most rebounds in the NBA on average over the last ten days (49.8).
This fact, in combination with the aforementioned strong offensive performance, usually leads inevitably to a Memphis victory – but not against Dallas. Because the last time they met, the Mavs won the rebounding duel 52 to 41.
That’s the point, which is why I think the Mavericks will win again. Luka Doncic alone caught 13 free balls for the Mavs that night and also scored 27 points. The Serbian won’t be able to keep it down this time either.
Memphis might lack the experience to win against such a savvy defence. Especially since they don’t have a player who can really stand up to Luka Doncic.
Therefore, the Grizzlies go into tonight’s rematch as the underdogs with odds of about 2.40! A successful revenge therefore seems to be a rather unlikely scenario!
Conclusion: We can expect a very interesting match between two outstanding teams, both of which belong to the “up-and-coming” franchises. However, the Mavs have already proven they can dominate the visitors.
Memphis has won fourteen of its last sixteen NBA games, but it was against their upcoming opponents that they suffered one of the most bitter defeats of the season just a week ago – the reason is quickly explained by three keywords: defence, rebounds and Luka Doncic!
Dallas has an outstanding defence, which currently allows less than 100 points on average. In addition, the rebound duel in the last showdown was won thanks to the phenomenal Serbian. I expect the same tonight!
My Mavericks Grizzlies tip is therefore: Win of the Texans!
