Why is Houston -1.5?

[BadLuckSanta]

Marc Gasol is the engine on the Memphis Grizzlies.
The grizzlies are completely lost without Gasol on the floor on both ends of the court.

This line is a joke. it opened at -2 at LVH and is now down to -1.5 with 95% of bets coming in on Houston.

WTF

Someone please explain to me what the fckkk vegas is doing with this?

[vyomguy]

no harden

[RickyRoma]

Should be interesting..

[larry040681]

no harden and no gasol...

interesting indeed...

[heavypenguin]

No Gasol, no defence. Houston takes the easy win here. Easier to compensate points for the absence of Harden than create a team defense without one of the leagues top defender.
Easy play, Houston -1.5

[RickyRoma]

Why is harden out again? Is he injured or something?

[kobstopa]

mem had beaten very teams on west-coast's trip before lost at home to spur. No Gasol, no defence you said ? Zebo will step up, also under rated Koufos will fill the hold fine. dont forget Allen/Prince defensive combo, these guys are but they are still effective.
this is a toss up game, so the line is about right

[robertx]

very interesting...

[nbapredictor]

gasol surely out
harden may play

but even if harden don't play as long as gasol is out
for me 9 out 10 houston will win this in -1.5 spread

[lucasdawg]

what does -1.5 mean usually dont handicap just ml

[BadLuckSanta]

no harden

Ah ha! thank you

[Catch77]

Harden is dealing with foot pain. I'm on HOU (-1.5) big. Also going to get on ML . Gasol or no Gasol the line is way low for HOU. Even without harden; Howard, Parsons, Casspi, P Beverly Jeremy Lin, Terrance Jones, Omer Asik are more athletic by a great margin. MEM cant score with Houston. I expect a 10-15 pt win.

[TallGuySmallFry]

Tough here but I think Memphis at home will edge it out for me. ML of course. Harden is to me a bigger difference maker in a game like this. Memphis plays gritty defensive game and post up offense. If Houston's guard play is sub-par I see it difficult for them to get going. Harden is a slasher who opens the whole court up , and plays a big role in orchestrating the offense. Good Luck should be close either way

[mtofell]

J Lin is a nice backup when harden is out. Surely not as good but a lot better than gasol backup

[vyomguy]

rockets have never won on the road without harden. They lost to 76ers without MCW this season on the road.

koufos is actually good replacement for gasol.

[Speedy88]

Memphis will have 2 of the best 3 players on the court in Conley and ZBo. Kind of like Memphis here.

[totallypsycho]

curious when slow paced teams play fast paced teams does game pace usually go fast or slow

[Speedy88]

curious when slow paced teams play fast paced teams does game pace usually go fast or slow

I think Memphis makes them play in the half court.

[nelsonrc24]

Not sure if youre trolling but here it goes. It means the team must win by at least 1.5 points.

[Catch77]

Well that didnt go exactly as I expected .. well sort of did. HOU has athletes. This wasnt won with Howard/Harden. It was Parsons/Lin/Garcia/Casspi. You have to be able to score with them. Personally thought this was the easiest call of the night.

[boatofcapper177]

rockets have never won on the road without harden. They lost to 76ers without MCW this season on the road.

koufos is actually good replacement for gasol.

Mem is a piece of shit this year now without their best big man, Hous was the easy play! BTW who is Koufos? lol