On Monday night, the Sixers will be in Memphis facing a depleted Grizzlies squad. The Sixers shook up the world in front of a national television audience on Saturday night, dispatching the vaunted Golden State Warriors with comparative ease and moving to 15-12 on the season. The Grizzlies beat the Houston Rockets on Saturday and are 16-11.

Let’s get into our Sixers vs. Grizzlies betting pick with player prop predictions, odds, and analysis for this December 13, 2021 matchup.

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Sixers vs. Grizzlies Betting Pick (December 13, 2021)

When I’m king of the world, the Memphis Grizzlies will no longer exist. Contracting the team isn’t necessary, though it’s also not the worst idea ever. It’s baffling that the state of Tennessee now has teams in the NBA, NFL and NHL. No, the team can stay, but the name has to go.

The team is called the Grizzlies, of course, because it was originally an expansion franchise in Vancouver in 1995. Who doesn’t remember Bryant “Big Country” Reeves with affection? But the Grizz never won more than 23 games in their six seasons in Canada, and it was therefore not shocking that fans never really bought in. So the team moved to Memphis but kept the name, and that’s stupid.

Yeah, I know, there are other examples of this. Quite obviously, the Utah Jazz didn’t pick that name because Salt Lake City is a hotbed of, as jazz is defined, music “often improvisational, developed by African Americans and influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythms.” The Utah basketball team, of course, was born as the New Orleans Jazz in 1974, and suffered a similar fate as the Vancouver Grizzlies after five seasons. But Utah Jazz works because it’s ironic. Memphis Grizzlies isn’t ironic, it’s just dumb. 

So is “Los Angeles Lakers” – a team that emanated in Minneapolis, the Land of 10,000 Lakes, goes to California but doesn’t change the name. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, the Lakers were such a dominant franchise in the league for about 30 years that changing the name would have made no sense. We’re stuck with that one, too.

Other franchises have relocated and kept their original name, but in those cases, the team name is so non-descript and portable that it works out just fine. The Golden State Warriors were the Philadelphia Warriors. The Sacramento Kings were the Kansas City Kings (and the Cincinnati Royals before that.) The Los Angeles Clippers were the San Diego Clippers, and yes, Clippers makes more sense in San Diego than it does in Los Angeles for nautical reasons, but L.A. is close enough to the ocean to let that slide. The Brooklyn Nets and New Jersey, Charlotte being born the Hornets, changing the name to Bobcats, then back to the Hornets. It’s all pretty aggravating and silly. 

Of course I know that the 76ers were previously the Syracuse Nationals, but kudos to the people responsible for renaming the team the 76ers. Philadelphia Nationals is a terrible name. Also, by now, you have probably figured out that this entire history lesson was a way to keep from writing anything substantive about a game where the Grizzlies’ best player (Ja Morant) is out due to COVID-19 and another of their leading scorers (Jaren Jackson Jr.) is questionable with a knee injury. Additionally, the Grizzlies’ only credible center, Steven Adams, is doubtful with an ankle injury. That’s how the Sixers end up favored on the road against a team with a better record in the arguably tougher conference.

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Sixers vs. Grizzlies Odds

Here’s the line for the Sixers and Grizzlies at FanDuel Sportsbook:

  • Point Spread: Sixers -3 (-110), Grizzlies +3 (+110)
  • Moneyline: Sixers -148, Grizzlies +126
  • Total: 211

Bets We Like With a Sixers Win

Sixers to Win and Over 211 Total Points (+198, FanDuel Sportsbook)

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The Sixers are finally healthy and, save for perpetual wantaway failson Ben Simmons, an intact unit. The Sixers did a great many good things against the Warriors on Saturday that demonstrated their growing cohesion, including a resolute defensive performance and having five different players hit double figures in scoring. There are indicators for the under here, specifically the absence of Morant and probably Jackson, but 211 is a pretty low total for two teams that are 18th (Sixers) and 23rd (Grizzlies) in points allowed.

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Bets We Like Independent of Outcome

Joel Embiid Over 25.5 Points (-125, Caesars Sportsbook)

The book is making you pay through the nose with that return, but they pretty much have to in this instance. Embiid made a garbage time free throw on Saturday night to finish with 26 points and hit his over on points. The book probably disliked that very much. Anyway, Embiid is healthy and hitting great form lately, and as it was with the games against the shorthanded Charlotte Hornets last week where Embiid went off, the Grizzlies really don’t have a capable big body to slow Embiid down in this game.

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Tobias Harris Over 7.5 Rebounds (-120, DraftKings Sportsbook)

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By now, we all completely understand that Tobias Harris is empty calories. Harris is averaging 18.9 points per game this season. That’s good, right? But he’s only hitting 31.5% of his three-point attempts, and you still can’t really trust him with the ball in late game situations. None of that matters for this prop, though. Harris is rebounding the ball very well this season (8.2 per game) and the Grizzlies will have difficulty keeping him away from the glass tonight.

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Tyrese Maxey Under 14.5 Points (-120, FOX Bet)

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You’ve probably heard of the “rookie wall,” which is the phenomenon where NBA rookies who were used to playing about 35 games in a college season suddenly have to play 70 games or more in an NBA season and understandably lose their legs about halfway through the schedule. Maxey is not a rookie, but he’s definitely experiencing something very much like the rookie wall right now. Maxey played an unsustainable number of minutes earlier this season while the Sixers were dealing with COVID-19 absences and he scored a ton of points in some of those games. In his last six games, though, Maxey is averaging 9.5 points per game. He’ll get his legs under him soon enough, but for now, the safer play is to figure he’s still not back to where he needs to be.

Sixers vs. Grizzlies Prediction

I don’t love laying points on the road against a team with a 16-11 record any more than you do, but the lineup the Grizzlies will put out without Morant tonight isn’t really a 16-11 team. As noted above, you could make a case that if Adams doesn’t play, it’s a bigger loss than Morant, because while some of Morant’s teammates will be able to pick up some of the scoring shortfall, the Grizzlies don’t really have anyone to deal with Embiid, who could very easily get 30 and 15 tonight. And even if Adams plays, it’s hard to imagine he’ll be effective on a bad ankle. Adams can barely move when he’s healthy.

Pick: Sixers -3 (-112, Barstool Sportsbook)

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