Spurs seek redemption on the road as they face Memphis Grizzlies

After getting blown out at home, the San Antonio Spurs will try to right the ship as they take on the Memphis Grizzlies tonight.

Leading up to Saturday’s game against the LA Clippers there was reason to believe that the San Antonio Spurs would get up for the game and give the Clippers a fight. After all, the Clippers have brought out the best in the Spurs when they’ve faced off this season and it wouldn’t have been the first time that San Antonio pulled out a surprise win at home.

That hope proved to be unwarranted as San Antonio got run off their own home court in 134-109 Clippers rout. Now, San Antonio is back on the road to face a Memphis Grizzlies team that has given them trouble this year. Led by two dynamic rookies, the Grizzlies are one of the teams of the future in the Western Conference.

The matchup that you have to keep your eye on is the guard battle featuring Ja Morant and Dejounte Murray. The two up and coming guards match up well, with similar skill sets that will surely make for an exciting game. Morant has game-breaking athleticism, just ask Kevin Love, but Murray has the edge in experience and on defense.

Morant isn’t the only rookie that San Antonio will have to focus on. Brandon Clarke has spent his rookie year making a fool of every team, including the Spurs, that passed on him. He really was one of the steals of the draft. It’s shocking that so many teams passed on Clarke seeing as he’s doing exactly what he did in college in the NBA.

He’s a great complimentary piece to Jaren Jackson Jr. Clarke is able to score from all levels but isn’t quite the rim protector that Jackson Jr. is. Playing the two together is burning the Grizzlies on defense right now but that should change as they get older and continue to learn how to play together. Even still, there’s a lot of potential there that the Grizzlies have to be excited about.

Given how inexperienced the two are down low, LaMarcus Aldridge could be primed for a big night. The Grizzlies do still have Jonas Valančiūnas but Aldridge should still be able to have one of his better games of the season. He only put up 19 points the last time the two teams met, San Antonio will need more than from their star big man tonight.

Gameday bets and prediction

Spread: Spurs -1

Over/Under: 227

All betting information courtesy of The Action Network. 

The Grizzlies had a slow start to their season but have pulled things back together. They’ve won five of their last eight coming into tonight’s game including an impressive win over the Miami Heat and a close game with the Milwaukee Bucks. They haven’t been the best at defending their home court though so San Antonio could be in a good spot.

The Spurs have had their fair share of bad losses but they’ve responded well whenever they’ve taken a tough loss. They bounced back from their ugly loss to the Detroit Pistons with their best game of the season in their next game and responded to a disappointing loss to the Cavaliers with a solid road win over the Suns.

With that in mind, I’m picking the Spurs to cover that spread and beat the over in this one. I think DJ will give Morant trouble as he has in the previous meetings between the two teams, enough to disrupt the Memphis offense. Patty Mills could be in for a great game. The Grizzlies backup guards aren’t the best defenders and Mills has been on a tear this year. He’s a player to keep your eye on.

If San Antonio takes another loss tonight they could be in for another short losing streak. After facing Memphis they’re staying on the road to face the Dallas Mavericks in what will surely be a tough game for the Spurs.