Hoop Hopes – Ricky Rothstein makes his picks for tonight’s NBA action!
San Antonio at Memphis ESPN will have a treat for the basketball connoisseur when they broadcast the Spurs at the Grizzlies tonight. San Antonio swept the Grizzlies in the Western Finals last year when Memphis surprised people by even getting that fair in the first place, but this year the Grizzlies are showing that they’re legit. After a bumpy start to the season Memphis has boiled down its gameplan a little and is seeing the benefits, taking a four-game winning streak into tonight’s game.
The Spurs, of course, are taking an eight-game winning streak into tonight’s game, but that’s ok. If Memphis wants to find out who it really is, it has to measure itself against the best. Mike Conley has to measure himself against Tony Parker, Zach Randolph has to measure himself against Tim Duncan. They’re very close, but I get the feeling that Greg Popovich will tell his team not to let the Grizzlies forget their place in the order of things.
Indiana at Boston The Pacers were taken to overtime in Madison Square Garden before eventually pulling away from the Knicks, but was it another sign that the Pacers are starting to wobble after their imperious start to the season? That’s the hope that Boston has to cling to tonight when Indiana comes to visit.
The problem for Boston is that the Knicks, for all their many and vocal critics, are still a better team than the Celtics. There’s nobody on the Celtics team who would start for Indiana. Nobody.
Chicago at Portland Chicago continued its terrible run of form in Denver last night, losing by ten points. The second game of a six-game road trip is at Portland tonight, and it’s hard to see things getting better for the Bulls.
At the start of the year, the thought was that the Blazers would trade LaMarcus Aldridge and build on whoever they brought in instead. It’s to Portland’s great fortune that trade never happened, as Aldridge has delivered, big-style for the Blazers. Portland has won nine straight, is 9-3 against the spread for the season and Aldridge has been good for 22.5 points per game.
For Chicago, it’s still about Derrick Rose and his recovery from his year out. Optimists say he’s getting better in every. Pessimists are, unsurprisingly, more pessimistic. The Blazers only have to cover -3.5 on their noisy home court at the Moda Center – it’s not that big an ask for them.
Follow Ricky Rothstein’s Hoop Hopes every night – he’s 13-12 for the season so far!
