Trail Blazers Heavily Favored Over Grizzles For Final Playoff Spot

• The Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies will be playing in a play-in tournament to see who will advance to the Western Conference playoffs on Saturday.
• The Trail Blazers (-1600) are favored to win the tournament and only have to win one game as opposed to the Grizzles who have to win two games to advance.
• The Grizzles are also at a disadvantage when it comes to experience in games like these with most of the starters having little playoff experience.

ORLANDO – After a win over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, the Portland Trail Blazers have clinched the eighth seed the NBA Western Conference play-in Tournament and will face the ninth seed Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

The Trail Blazers and the Grizzles have battled their way to this play-in tournament for a chance to advance to the 2020 Western Conference Playoffs.

If the Blazers win this game they will immediately move on but if they lose there will be a Game 2 played on Sunday, August 16 to determine who will get a spot in the playoffs.

Legal sports betting sites have odds in favor of Portland but the teams are coming into this game with a tied season series.

The Trail Blazers have undoubtedly had a better performance in the bubble with a record of 6-2 to the Grizzlies 2-6 seeding games record.

The teams played each other for the second time this season in the first seeding game of either team in the bubble. The game ended in overtime with the Trail Blazers winning 140-135.

With this play-in tournament having season-ending stakes and the only thing in the way of a Conference Playoff appearance, the matchup may come down to experience.

Five of the nine Grizzlies players in regular rotation (Brandon Clarke, Ja Morant, Grayson Allen, Dillon Brooks, De’Anthony Melton) have three years or less of NBA experience along with little playoff experience.

In comparison, the Blazers have players such as Carmelo Anthony, Damian Lillard, and CJ McCollum with many years of playoff experience. Jusuf Nurkic and Hassan Whiteside have played long postseasons and even Zach Collins in his second year in the league played a big role in the Conference Finals last year.

Bookmakers are seeming to lean on the side of experience and who currently has the hot streak when it comes to these two teams. The fact that the Blazers have two chances to win the series also plays a part in their probability and NBA odds.

The winner of the series will play the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs.

News tags: Brandon Clarke | Brooklyn Nets | Carmelo Anthony | CJ McCollum | Damian Lillard | De'Anthony Melton | Dillon Brooks | Grayson Allen | Hassan Whiteside | Ja Morant | Jusuf Nurkic | Los Angeles Lakers | Memphis Grizzlies | Play-in tournament | Portland Trail Blazers | Western Conference Playoffs | Zach Collins