Minnesota Timberwolves vs Memphis Grizzlies betting tips and predictions for Friday’s NBA Western Conference Playoff game on ESPN. The Memphis Grizzlies have an opportunity to close out the Minnesota Timberwolves as the two teams meet up at Target Center for Game 6. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Experience has been a big factor in this series or the lack thereof in Minnesota’s case. Instead of being down 3-2 entering tonight’s game, this could have easily been already over if the Timberwolves played just a bit smarter. They blew multiple double-digit leads in Games 3 and 5, that’s just not supposed to happen at this stage.
Despite all the negatives, this team has performed well in the 2 wins they had. Anthony Edwards is blossoming into a star right in front of our eyes. He is averaging 24.2 points per game on over 40% shooting from three. After struggling in games 2 and 3, Karl-Anthony Towns has also stepped up his game in the last 2 outings, but he needs to keep his fouls in check tonight as the Wolves have no shot here when their best player is sitting on the bench.
Memphis Grizzlies
Ja Morant had 30 in the Game 5 win, including the lay-up game winner with 1 second to go. He hasn’t had the best shooting series so far, but he is getting it done offensively involving his teammates at a rate of 10.4 assists per game. Desmond Bane is another guy who has been a huge help, he’s scored at least 25 points in the last 3 games. I expect the Grizzlies to once again rely on those two tonight.
Center Steven Adams has been placed into health and safety protocols, which means that head coach Taylor Jenkins will once again play small ball which could mean an increase in tempo here. Memphis has another reason to be optimistic here. Since the 2004-05 NBA season, the road favourite has gone 28-11-1 ATS in Game 6 and tonight they are 1-point favourites in this match-up.
Grizzlies are also 13-6 ATS in the last 19 meetings with Minnesota and have beaten them 11 times in the last 15 head-to-head. They are a more mature team, they have more experience and at the end of the day, they have more talent. Let’s back the Grizzlies to advance on the road here.
Minnesota Timberwolves vs Memphis Grizzlies Predictions & Odds
These 2 teams just love scoring, but on some nights it goes down significantly for some reason. When the series started the projected total was set for 238.5, but tonight it’s down almost 10 points at 229. With the last 10 meetings averaging 233 points per game, I think there’s a solid chance we go over that number tonight. Both teams will want to win here, so they should give it their all on the offensive end. I’ve mentioned the absence of Steven Adams, Memphis doesn’t really have a traditional replacement for him so they should opt to play small-ball here and the Timberwolves have the tools to counter that.
The total has gone over in 4 of the last 5 Memphis games played on Friday, they are also 22-19-2 on the O/U in games away from home. Minnesota has 16 more games that went over the total than under this season so far and their last 7 of 9 games played on a Friday have all gone over. Look for the pace to pick up here, these are the 1st and 3rd ranked teams in terms of the number of possessions per game this season. Let’s back to the points.
