The 3 best bets to make for Grizzlies vs. Cavaliers on Thursday

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The Cleveland Cavaliers host the Memphis Grizzlies at 7:30 pm EST on Thursday, February 2.

Cleveland enters the game at 31-22, among the top teams in the Eastern Conference, however, they’re just 4-6 in their past ten games.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies are 32-19, sitting second in the West, also 4-6 in their past ten.

The Grizzlies vs Cavaliers odds are set at Cleveland -5 on the spread, with a total of 226. The Cavs are -205 on the moneyline, with the Grizzlies paying +172.

Cleveland has been alternating wins and losses of late following that pattern in each of their past seven games. They were last in action on Tuesday, hosting Miami in a close 100-97 loss. The Cavs are one of the league’s lowest-scoring teams, scoring just 111.2 points per game, ranking 27th. That was on display against the Heat with no Cavs player scoring in the 20s and Evan Mobley leading the way with just 19 points.

Jimmy Butler led all players with 23 points for Miami. Then again, with the league’s top two defenses, it’s no wonder we saw a tight game with the total falling under 210.5 points.

Memphis had hit a rough patch on their schedule with five straight losses, but snapped that streak on Sunday, winning 112-100 at home to Indiana. Both Jaren Jackson Jr and Ja Morant had big nights for the Grizz with 28 and 27 points respectively. Morant was dominant on all ends of the floor also adding ten boards and 15 assists in his 42 minutes. They were also in action last night against Portland.

However, it was another loss for Memphis on Wednesday, losing 122-112 at home to Portland. Memphis was leading for most of the game but came undone in the fourth quarter being outscored 38-22.

This will be a rematch of an earlier meeting last month when Memphis edged out Cleveland 115-114 on their home court.

Both Morant and Desmond Bane had 20-plus point nights for the Grizzlies, with Darius Garland and Caris LeVert doing the same for the Cavs. Mobley had a huge night on the glass pulling down 15 boards.

Much like each team’s recent form, neither has been consistent bets when it comes to NBA picks against the spread. Cleveland is 26-24-3 ATS, while Memphis is 24-25-2.

Heading into last night’s game, Memphis was on a run of just two covers in their past seven. That is now two in their past eight. Bets on the under have also gone 7-0 in Grizzlies’ games. Cleveland has been alternating their ATS results between wins and losses in each of their past eight games.

But where they’ve been consistent, is also in cashing under tickets. The under is 6-1 in Cleveland’s last six games.

Both teams are two of the top under teams this season and that’s where I’ll look to in my Grizzlies vs Cavaliers picks.

Pick: Under 226

Garland has averaged 8.1 assists per game this season and 8.7 in the month of January. While he only had five in his last game against Miami, he has consistently been going over this average in recent games.

Prior to his last game, Garland had tallied assists totals of 10, 13, 9, 6, 10, 9, 14 and 11. Those 14 assists came against this same Grizzlies team in their last meeting.

If Garland’s assist prop comes out around 8 or 9, he should be a good play to go over.

Last night Jackson’s blocks and steals prop was set at 2.5 at DraftKings against Portland and he had six blocks.

In other recent games, he had five blocks and one steal against the Pacers and two blocks and two steals against the Timberwolves. He did finish with a combined zero and one blocks+steals in his two games prior to that, but if you look at his past ten games, he’d be 8-2 to the over on 2.5 blocks+steals and then also 14-3 in his past 17 games.

Even looking at a potential total of 3.5, would’ve seen him going 10-7 in that time. I’d key in on the over for his block+steals prop at DraftKings when it comes out.

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