The defending champions San Antonio Spurs will travel to Memphis to face the grit and grind Grizzlies Friday night, on December 5, 2014. The battle between two of the NBA's power houses will tip off at 7:00 PM at the FedExForum.
Both the Grizzlies and Spurs have snapped their lengthy winning streaks after losing to the Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets respectively. Both teams, however, would love to take a win away from a Western Conference nemesis and Southwestern Division rival.
Memphis (15-3) saw its five-game winning streak end in an uncharacteristic performance on Wednesday's 105-96 loss to Houston in their last outing of a four-game road trip. The team, which ranks among the best in the NBA when it comes to stopping opponents from scoring at 93.1 points allowed, taking care of the ball at only 13.2 turnovers per game, and rebounding the ball at a plus-0.4 rebounding margin, committed a season-high 21 turnovers, allowed 94 points with still a full quarter left in the game, and lost the rebounding edge 52-39 by a Rockets roster without Dwight Howard.
"We have to put this game behind us," said forward Zach Randolph, who had a season-low eight points per Yahoo Sports Game Preview. "It's one of those games you put behind and put it in your back pocket. Remember it but forget about it and move on to the next game."
And as is if losing to a Howardlesss Rockets wasn't unfortunate enough, the Grizzlies also saw their best player Marc Gasol suffer a bone bruise in his right knee after the game. Gasol is averaging 19.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.5 blocks, early in the season and is listed as questionable in the coming match against the Spurs.
San Antonio (13-5), however, has some injury concerns of their own. The team is still without two of its key players in Patty Mills (right shoulder surgery) and Tiago Splitter (tightness, right calf) and both have been listed as out for Friday night's game at Memphis per NBA.com's Spurs Injury Report.
In Wednesday night's 95-93 overtime loss against the Nets, All-Star point guard Tony Parker struggled the entire game only managing to score nine points after missing one game with bruised ribs.
Yahoo! reported, "(Parker) just played like ... played horrible. At both ends of the court,'' coach Gregg Popovich said. ''Now if he's hurting, that's a good reason to not play well. But if you're hurting, you've got to tell somebody.''
But Marc Gasol or no Marc Gasol, Memphis needs to win this at home. The Spurs have owned the Grizzlies in their match ups winning both in 2013-14 en route to a season series sweep. San Antonio swept Memphis in the 2013 Western Conference finals. For the Grizzlies, it's not just a match for Southwest supremacy but a chance for redemption against a team that has beaten them in all regular and post season games in the recent campaign.
Memphis is the favorite in this matchup, laying points here at home. The Total has been posted at Over/Under per Pro Cappers.
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