Game Time: 6:00 PM ET, Tuesday, March 15th, 2022 

Venue:  Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana

Where to Watch: NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread:  Grizzlies -7.5; O/U 233

Fanduel:  Spread:  Grizzlies -7.5 O/U 233.5

BetMGM:  Spread: Grizzlies -7.5; O/U 233.5

Grizzlies: 47-22, 2nd place Western Conference

Pacers: 23-46, 13th place Eastern Conference

A non-conference matchup between an NBA king and an NBA pauper.  When the West plays the East there is a lot on the line for the Eastern Conference.  The West has three great teams at the top and very little beneath them.  The East has 6-7 teams notched in position to destroy the Playoffs if they keep chugging along… and if they get healthy… get right… learn to play together.  The Grizzlies are one of those great teams in the West… The Pacers are not one of those poised teams in the East.  The Grizzlies have demanded center stage this season. Point Guard Ja Morant has announced himself as one of the elite players in the league if not a perennial MVP candidate.  The team around Ja has announced themselves as deep and capable… from SG Desmond Bane who has fully taken the job of injured SG Dillon Brooks… to Jaren Jackson Jr, the power forward who serves as a perfect running mate for Ja… to shooters… to big men… to even backups.  The Grizzlies have everything that Phoenix does minus the experience.  The Pacers are junk.  It’s rude to say, but the Pacers have nothing of value left on the roster that is ready to win games.  The Pacers traded Domantas Sabonis… their clear best player over the last few seasons… a guy that led the team in points, assists, and rebounds… a guy that can do it all on the frontline.  The Pacers threw SG/SF Justin Holiday into the trade and got back a package from Sacramento of SG Buddy Hield and PG/SG Tyrese Haliburton… plus a random pick or two and a few cut-able players to save cap space (for all those HUGE free agents looking at Indy). It turns out ot be a bad trade for both teams since Tyrese Haliburtoon is widely considered the best player on the Kings roster in a long time while Domantas Sabonis was the best player on the Pacers for a long time.  It is all a head scratching.

The Memphis Grizzlies have won 7 of their last ten games.  They are on a three-game winning streak that helped them jump the floundering Golden State Warriors in the standings.  They went 4-6 ATS during the stretch.  The Grizzlies are no longer a good betting opportunity ATS because their reputation has preceded them and the spreads are growing.  Vegas knows Memohis will win 7 of ten or 8 of ten… They have to juice the action.  The scary thing about Memphis having such a good team right now is the players are mostly young or out to prove something about their place in the league….  The problem with that is they are susceptible to looking ahead or trying to look pretty while playing.  One of the three teams that beat them during the .700 stretch was the Houston Rockets 123-112.  That does not happen to a team that is focused… that does not happen to a team that has it all solved.  Another of the teams that beat them was the Portland Trail Blazers who are essentially a G-League team with NBA Jerseys.  The Grizzlies are great but vulnerable.  Leading scorer Ja Morant (27.5 ppg) and leading rebounder C Steven Adams (9.8 rpg) are like clockwork… they play and they land their stats every night. Bench PG De’Anthony Melton may be the best backup PG in the league… at 9.7 ppg… he gets helps Ja get nearly 40 PPG from the PG position.  He also was a 2nd round pick by Houston in 2018 and will be earning a big contract from someone other than Memphis coming soon.  A mistake this team has recently made was reintroducing the previously injured SG Dillon Brooks as a small forward… the results will be nice at first, but the growth of rookie SF Ziaire Williams will be stunted and SF Kyle “slo-mo” Anderson will get very few minutes going forward.  The team has a bright future and a deep playoff run in the cards for this season.  In the offseason they will be hoping that Dillon Brooks OR Ziaire Williams brings a big return in trade… otherwise the logjam will begin to affect them.

The Indiana Pacers have won 4 of their last ten games.  They went 5-5 ATS during that stretch. The only team of quality they beat during the last ten games was the Boston Celtics…Otherwise The Sacramento Kings, the Orlando Magic, and the Washington Wizards are not much to brag about.  The Kings seem to have won the trade at the trade deadline… They have a new leading scorer in SG Buddy Hield AND a new leading Assist and Steal man in PG Tyrese Haliburton… but with half the team on the injured list out of “precaution”.. The Pacers seem clearly in the mix for a high draft pick and focused entirely on that.  This offseason TJ Warren, Malcolm Brogdon, and TJ McConnell should all be on the trading block…. C Myles Turner may have survived the trade deadline this time around, but will need to step up big time for the team to stay interested in him.

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Memphis is 47-22 on the season, but 44-25 ATS.  They are a great betting opportunity and have been all season.  They have logged 37 Overs, 31 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 23-12 in road games.

The Pacers are 23-46 on the season, but 31-35-3 ATS.  They have notched 38 Overs, 30 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 15-19 in home games.

Memphis is 4th in scoring with 114.4 ppg, 1st in rebounds with 49.4 per game, and 5th in AST/TO ratio with 1.9.  On defense they rank 13th while holding opponents to 109.5 ppg.

Indiana is 14th in scoring with 110.7 ppg, 13th in rebounds with 44.8 per game, and 19th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7.  On defense they rank 25th while allowing 113.0 ppg from opponents.  You can ignore the rebounding numbers as they were mostly built through Diomantas Sabonis who is now gone  and C Myles Turner is out until Late March.

Our prediction for Tuesday, March 15th is…. Grizzlies 123 - Pacers 101

Feel free to bet it all for the Pacers to beat Indiana by whatever the spread lands at.  It makes no sense to worry about Memphis against a team that has this little on the floor.  Now if the spread is something HUGE that you can not wrap your brain around… avoid the bet, but if it is something around -10 or -11  Take it and make that $$$$.

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Memphis is 25-8 ATS after playing a road game this season.
Indiana is 21-8 ATS as a home underdog of 6.5 - 12 points since 1996.
Indiana is 2-0 ATS versus Memphis the last 3 seasons.

Memphis: no injuries to report.

Indiana: C Myles Turner Out ** SG TJ Warren Out ** PG TJ McConnell Out ** 

Memphis: PF Jaren Jackson Jr, SF Dillon Brooks, C Steven Adams, PG Ja Morant, SG Desmond Bane

Indiana: PF Oshae Brissett, SF Terry Tyler, C Isaiah Jackson, PG Tyrese Haliburton, SG Buddy Hield

Memphis

Points: Ja Morant 27.5

Assists: Ja Morant 6.7

Rebounds: Steven Adams 9.8

Steals: De’Anthony Melton 1.6

Blocks: Jaren Jackson Jr 2.2

Indiana

Points: Buddy Hield 19.7

Assists: Tyrese Haliburton 9.5

Rebounds: Domantas Sabonis 12.1 (gone)

Steals: Tyrese Haliburton 2.1

Blocks: Myles Turner 2.8

Memphis: Taylor Jenkins

Indiana: Rick Carlylse