Charlotte at Memphis

Memphis got off to a rocky yet exciting start vs the Knicks at home falling in 3OT's, while Charlotte dropped its opener to Indiana. Both teams will be hungry for their 1st win. The first half of this season will be quite challenging for Memphis, as Gasol will be out probably until mid January. They had to be excited about the performance of Rudy Gay, as thier #1 pick dropped in 21 and had 8 boards vs the Knicks in a losing cause. A similar story emerged in Charlotte, as Omeka Okafor returned to form with 19 pts. 13 rebounds and 6 blocks, after missing most of last year. They also had 14 from their 1st round choice Adam Morrison. This game looks a bit different than last year, as Charlotte features Morrison and Okafor, while Memphis is without Gasol. It may take this team awhile to adjust to his loss, as they shot just 40% vs the Knicks, and had just 14 assists in a triple OT game. Charlotte has made some strides. They have been competitive is their 25-15 ATS mark last year on the road. It was even better in the more competitive games where the line was in single digits, they went 17-5 ATS! The thought here is this team is much improved, and Memphis is weakened in two ways by the loss of Gasol. First, he was the stabilizer on offense when they needed a hoop, and second, they seem to be disjointed, as they have not gotten used to playing without him. We think last year's 17-5 ATS as a single digit dog on the road, is a sign of a team becoming much more competitive, and playing vs a team not fully handling the loss of a key player early in the season puts value in this play.