Game Preview: Grizzlies v Clippers

The Memphis Grizzlies will play host to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday at
FedExForum. The Clippers followed up an impressive 14-point victory Monday over
the Celtics with a poor showing Wednesday against the Timberwolves, where they
lost on the road in Minnesota by 16 points. With the loss, Los Angeles has now
dropped three of their last five games and five of their last eight, and they
are continuing to lose ground on the now fourth-place Jazz. As of Thursday, the
Clippers trail Utah by 1.5 games for the all-important No. 4 seed that would
ensure the team home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Perhaps
more important, however, is the fact that they are just 2.5 games ahead of the
their opponent Thursday, the sixth-place Grizzlies (36-28). Those Grizzlies,
however, are making it easy on Los Angeles to keep their position, as they have
now lost three straight games. The worst of those losses, and probably the worst
loss of the season for Memphis, was their most recent one against the Nets on
Monday, where they gave up 122 points to Brooklyn en route to a 13-point loss to
the worst team record-wise in the NBA. Heading into Thursday’s contest, history
is not on the side of Memphis to end their losing streak, as this season, the
team is 1-5 when playing off at least two days of rest, with their one victory
coming by two points against Toronto at home. This will be the fourth meeting of
the season between these two teams, with the Clippers winning two of the first
three matchups.