Unlike the first round of the NBA playoffs, where the majority of the matchups were decided early on, the conference semifinal round has been wildly competitive with all four series tied at one game all. On Saturday, the Memphis Grizzlies will take on the Golden State Warriors and the Washington Wizards will host the Atlanta Hawks in the third games of those best of seven contests.
Also out of the ordinary is the schedule these four teams are playing through, with all four of these teams having played their last games on Tuesday night. While most teams only see one day of rest in between games, the three full days off for these teams will clearly benefit the Wizards and Grizzlies, two lower seeds who are battling injury.
A top betting expert realizes the importance of Mike Conley Jr. to the Memphis Grizzlies. That was evident in the first two games of the series between the Grizzlies and Warriors, as he missed Game One with a facial fracture, and played in Game Two, with Memphis losing the first and winning the second. His offense is a substantial upgrade over backups Nick Calathes and Beno Udrih, but the real edge he provides comes on defense, where he held NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry to just 19 points in the Game Two win.
Now the Grizzlies return home, where they have only lost 10 games all season. But, as the best basketball tipster can tell you, the Golden State Warriors possess the most potent offense in the NBA and are not to be counted out of this Western Conference semifinal matchup.
In the Eastern Conference, the Washington Wizards won Game One on the road against the top seeded Atlanta Hawks, but lost Game Two when they were without All-Star point guard John Wall. Washington has since received some bad news on Wall’s condition, as it has been revealed that he has several fractures in his hand and could miss the remainder of the playoffs. This is especially unfortunate for the Wizards as they had a lead in the series before losing Wall, and the team was finally starting to see positive results under coach Randy Wittman.
Washington will now have to rely on the likes of Ramon Sessions at point guard, who a top tipster knows is a serious downgrade from Wall at that position. This will benefit Atlanta’s Jeff Teague, who has struggled in this series so far, but will eventually flourish against lesser competition.
The key for Atlanta will be their bench. Atlanta’s reserves only managed 18 points in their Game One loss, but put up 27 in Game Two’s victory, including 10 from Kent Bazemore.
With both of these series tied at one game each, the Grizzlies, Warriors, Wizards, and Hawks would put themselves in great position to advance to the conference finals with game three wins on Saturday. A top basketball betting expert can acknowledge the added sense of urgency in this game, as nobody wants to fall behind in these pivotal matchups.