NBA Matchups: April 20

Sunday fun day! Compared to Saturday’s NBA Matchups, I couldn’t go as in depth for this slate because of time (we didn’t know the eight seeds until Friday night), but I did dig in pretty deep on the Warriors-Rockets game. Enjoy the games!

MEM @ OKC | ORL @ BOS | MIA @ CLE | GSW @ HOU

Memphis Grizzlies at Oklahoma City Thunder

Team Totals:

Injury Report:

Grizzlies projected starters: Ja Morant, Scotty Pippen Jr., Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr., Zach Edey

Thunder projected starters: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein

Offensive Ranks: Grizzlies 6th, Thunder 2nd
Defensive Ranks: Grizzlies 10th, Thunder 1st

Season Series: Thunder 4-0

Noteworthy Missed Games: Ja Morant (2 missed), Jaren Jackson Jr. (1), Santi Aldama (2), Brandon Clarke (2), Zach Edey (1), Aaron Wiggins (1), Lu Dort (1), Chet Holmgren (3), Alex Caruso (2)

Iisalo quotes: Said “we have been a juggernaut with Zach Edey on the floor,” said they wanted some better rebounding against the Mavs (Konchar, Bagley), said Bagley was sick and they were always planning to play him on Friday, said Bagley’s illness almost “derailed the game plan”, said Edey has been so good and has been improving, said they have a huge challenge coming up against the Thunder and the short turnaround won’t help, said he expected Ja to give it his all despite how he was limping around all day on Thursday, said Ja playing hurt really pushed the team to give it their all.

Daigneault quotes: Said they had three really good practices this week, said J-Dub always plays hard for them, said the gap from value in a rim protector vs. perimeter defender has closed in the NBA because the game has changed so much, said he feels good about the double-big lineup but they won’t do it exclusively, said he won’t be afraid to throw Ajay Mitchell into the game.

Stats and Notes:

*The Thunder absolutely owned the Grizzlies this year with a +17.8 net rating over their four games. It was domination on both ends as they controlled the pace, the paint, the boards, and two of the games were even on B2Bs. OKC’s perimeter defense is arguably the best in the league, and they’re the best equipped to stop both Desmond Bane and Ja Morant. The old versions of OKC used to get beat on the boards, but they’re eighth in defensive rebounding rate since the break. They’re also one of the best transition defenses in the league, and the Grizzlies are the league’s fastest team for transition points. The Grizzlies are only 15th in halfcourt offense, so they are still going to have to somehow get their transition game at their normal level. The OKC offense has been on a tear with a league-best 122.9 O rating since the break. They have the full package with pace, shooting, and interior scoring, and the Grizzlies have been much more vulnerable in all three areas. This should be a really short series, and I’m surprised it’s priced much closer than the Boston series.

*Ja Morant has only seen one game against Lu Dort this year and it went OK with a 24/3/6 line in 32 minutes (JJJ out for this one), and the other Dort-less game went worse with Ja at 16/5/7 in 36 minutes with Alex Caruso on him. The matchup is just awful for him here, and his ankle injury likely isn’t anywhere close to 100%. It’s a really tough sell on Ja for this series.