The Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies are playing Game 5 of their NBA playoffs first round series on Wednesday and the matchup from FedExForum will be on TNT and TNT Overtime streaming starting at 9:30 pm ET and has the Grizz leading 3-1 and gives Marc Gasol and company the chance to clinch and move on over Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge into the second round of the postseason.
The Blazers were down 3-0 in the series before coming back to win Game 4 and now they have to find a way to win in Memphis. Aldridge said that the pressure is on the Grizzlies, as they are the ones that need to close out the Blazers. The Grizzlies are in good position, as they were one of the best home teams in the league this season and no NBA team has come back from being 3-0 down before in history.
Last year the Blazers upset the Rockets in the playoffs, but Houston is already through to the next round and it looks like Portland is done. The team can extend the series a bit and even if they push it to seven games it will be very tough to win it. The Blazers won the last matchup after a strong game from Lillard, who had 32 points and seven assists in the matchup.
The Grizzlies have been getting strong play from Gasol and he led the way with 21 points and six assists in the matchup. Lillard was held back by the Grizzlies strong defense in the first two games and he was much better in Game 3 with 22 points before jumping out in Game 4. Mike Conley has been dealing with an injury and that could make it tough for the Grizzlies to make a deep run if he is not fully healthy.
Conley will be out at least one more game and he could miss more time depending on how his injury goes after dealing with facial fractures. The team has a strong bench, but playing without Conley is tough and now the Grizzlies have to find a way to get things done. Jeff Green has been up and down, while the backcourt has struggled without Conley in the mix for now.
C.J. McCollum has 44 points in the last two games and he could be a big factor in the matchup here. The Blazers are going to try and make this as tough as possible and winning one game could be tough for the Grizzlies, even with the series basically in their hands. The Blazers know they have nothing to lose and that could make them a tough team to face.
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