The NBA Western Conference Finals will shift venues to FedEx Forum this Saturday night for Game 3 of this best-of-seven showdown between the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies, with the Spurs holding the 2-0 edge. Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m. (ET), and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

San Antonio came dangerously close to blowing its home-court advantage in this series but held on to win Tuesday night 93-89 in overtime as a 5.5-point home favorite. This followed its 105-83 romp in Game 1 as 4.5-point favorites at home. The total has gone “over” in both of those games.

The Grizzlies are used to playing from behind in these playoffs after going down 0-2 in their opening-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers and dropping Game 1 of their conference semifinals series against Oklahoma City, but the stakes have been substantially raised after losing the first two contests against a much tougher opponent this time around.

Spurs at Grizzlies Betting Storylines

After blowing-out Memphis by 22 points in the series opener, the Spurs had Game 2 well in hand as well with a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter. Unable to hold off the Grizzlies down the stretch in regulation, they relied on an 8-4 advantage in overtime to seal the win. San Antonio’s veteran all-stars once again rose to the occasion with Tony Parker scoring 15 points and dishing out a career playoff-high 18 assists, while Tim Duncan scored six of his 17 points in the extra stanza while pulling down nine rebounds.

The Spurs hit 43.4 percent of their shots from the field after shooting an impressive 52.6 percent in Game 1. Overall, they are averaging 102.2 points a game in the postseason while converting on 46.3 percent of their attempts from the field and 37.1 percent from three-point range. San Antonio is pulling down 43.1 rebounds a game with Duncan and Kawhi Leonard combining for 17.2 a game.

Memphis can talk about taking care of business at home all it wants. However, if it does not start shooting the ball much better than it has in the first two games, this series will not go past four games. The Grizzlies followed up a 43.2 shooting percentage in last Sunday’s blowout loss with a 33-for-97 effort on Tuesday night. Zach Randolph responded with a much better effort (15 points and 18 rebounds) in Game 2 after managing just two points and seven rebounds in the opener, but it is going to take much more than that to turn this series around.

After holding teams to 93 points or less in eight of their first 11 postseason games, the Grizzlies have had difficulty keeping the Spurs in check so far. The two keys to winning on Saturday night could hinge directly on Marc Gasol’s ability to elevate his play underneath the boards even higher than it has been the first two series and for Memphis to keep the Spurs from lighting things up from beyond the arc like they did in the series opener.

Spurs at Grizzlies NBA Game 3 Betting Odds and Trends

BetOnline has opened the Grizzlies as five-point home favorites for Saturday night’s clash with the “over/under” set at 177.5.

The Spurs are 4-1 ATS in their last five road games but 6-14 ATS in their last 20 games following a SU win. The total has stayed under in 13 of their last 17 games on the road.

The Grizzlies are 6-0 ATS in their last six home games and 5-0 ATS in their last five games following a SU loss. The total has stayed under in 12 of their last 17 games at home.

The home team in this matchup is a perfect 7-0 SU in the last seven meetings but just 4-3 ATS. The total has gone over in three of the five games between these two teams this season.

Spurs at Grizzlies Picks and Game 3 Predictions

There is no doubt that the Grizzlies are a different team when playing at home ,and they have already demonstrated the ability to win a must-game such as this. I like their chances to get the SU victory at home on Saturday night, but I do not like the idea of laying the five points against a veteran Spurs’ team that is playing at a very high level.

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