The Los Angeles Lakers travel across the country to take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night, in one of three games on the NBA slate that evening. The Lakers are coming off of a big win in their last outing, while the Grizzlies will have to take the court for a second straight night without its top player. In our NBA predictions for Thursday night, we look at Lakers vs Grizzlies and determine whether home court advantage can overcome the schedule of the hosts ahead of this matchup.
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Lakers vs Grizzlies Betting Pick
This game will be played at FedEx Forum at 8:00 PM ET on Thursday, December 9, 2021.
Why Bet The Lakers:
✅ This is the kind of game that having Ja Morant around for would be perfect. Instead, Tyus Jones is the current starting point guard for the Grizzlies while Morant is out with an injury. That means Russell Westbrook has a huge matchup advantage that will kickstart the Lakers having an edge across the board in this matchup.
✅ Memphis was hammered on the glass last night by the Dallas Mavericks, who are not a great rebounding team. Los Angeles should be able to really press their advantage on the boards, as the big three of Davis, James and Westbrook should be able to team up with Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan to outrebound Memphis by a sizable margin.
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✅ The Lakers’ effort level is just higher now than it was a couple of weeks ago which will help them here. Whether it was Enes Freedom or simply a desire to avoid the play-in tournament, the Lakers look like a contender again. And with Davis and James both probable for this game, the Lakers should be as close to full strength as they have been all season.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off of a win against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night, and have won three of their last four games. Los Angeles appears to be ramping up their level of effort over the last few games, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis both appearing in their games recently. With both stars back on the court and playing at a high level, the Lakers are all of a sudden looking like the contenders they were expected to be.
In this game, the Lakers don’t have to worry about guarding Ja Morant, but they will have to figure out how to slow down Dillon Brooks and Steven Adams. Those two in particular don’t have a great counterpart when the Lakers are playing defense, which could severely impact the Lakers’ chances of winning this contest.
Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies come into this matchup against the Lakers on the second night of a back to back, after hosting the Dallas Mavericks the night before. While the Grizzlies will be helped by the fact that both nights of their back to back are at home, they will still have to overcome the fatigue factor of playing on two straight nights. And the loss of Ja Morant will only make things more difficult on them here.
Interestingly enough, though, the Grizzlies have been red hot after the loss of Morant from their lineup. Memphis has enjoyed a recent winning streak post-Morant injury, including games against the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks on the road. Some of that has to do with the lack of predictability in their offense now that there are different hands on the ball early in the shot clock, which could help them get past the Lakers here as well.