The Memphis Grizzlies find themselves in a desperate position tonight. Going into Game 5 of their series, they face elimination against the 7th seed Los Angeles Lakers. Luckily for them, the game will be taking place in Memphis. They finished the regular season with the best home record in the NBA. The Lakers on the other hand were just 20-21 on the road. With this being the playoffs however, we could be in for som e surprises.
You can check out all of our NBA predictions, but now we'll jump right into my Lakers vs Grizzlies SGP.
LeBron James has been phenomenal rebounding the ball through the first 4 games. He is averaging 13 rebounds per game and has hit double-digits in 3 of the 4 contests. Considering he recorded a season high 20 rebounds in Game 4, it is hard to see a major drop off from him in this category. With Jaren Jackson Jr. being able to space the floor and pull away one of the Lakers bigs from the paint, it does leave a rebounding void. James has been terrific in filling it. The Lakers are leading all playoff teams in fast break points per game. Having LeBron pull down boards and push the ball up the floor himself has been a major part of that. Look for it to remain a focus for James tonight. The forward should hit double-digit boards here as a result.
Xavier Tillman has been carving out a increasingly bigger role for the Memphis Grizzlies. He has seen his playing time increase game on game this series, resulting in 42 minutes in Game 4. A similar amount of playing time tonight should position him well to have a big rebounding night. Over the last 3 games he is averaging 11 rebounds per game. Both Anthony Davis and Jarred Vanderbilt have shot below 33% from deep this season and have just 4 combined made 3-pointers this series. Neither pose a big enough perimeter threat to pull Tillman away from the paint. He is one of the strongest rebounders in the Grizzlies roster, ranking 2nd this postseason in rebound percentage. Look for him to record double-digit boards here.