Memphis at Portland

You'd have to think both these teams smell a rare win when squaring off, as each franchise has been void of success of late. The fate of the Trailblazers has been a bit worse as they have been out-scored by 9 points per game in the early going. Meanwhile Memphis has hung a bit tougher, being out-scored by 2 per game. Memphis appears to be a team heading up as Rudy Gay may finally be living up to expectations. He leads the Grizzles in scoring at 18 ppg. A healthy Paul Gasol, who missed most of the season last year is close behind at 17 ppg. Add in Darko Milicic, and his 11 ppg and 8 boards, and this team is certainly more capable than what they put on the floor last season. This Portland team is reliant on three players for the bulk of the scoring, and the dropoff is substantial after that as no one averages more than 7.5 after Aldridge, Webster and Roy. The Blazers are just not a good enough team to be favored against anyone in the league at this point, and their recent history certainly is testament to that. The Blazers are a rare favorite at home, and the last few years they have gone 6-23 ATS as a home favorite. We will take a Grizzlies team that just has more overall talent, and on a slight up-tick, vs. a stagnant Blazers team that wilts in the favorite role.