The Grizzlies look to extend their current five-game winning streak at home tonight against the Orlando Magic. As always, when time permits, three thoughts on tonight’s game:
1. A Mismatch, On Paper: The Magic were the most active team in yesterday’s relatively quiet trade deadline, moving four players out — including sharpshooter J.J. Redick — and bringing four players in in two different deals. But, because of the timing of the trades relative to tonight’s game, it seems unlikely that any of the new players will be in uniform. Given that the Magic were already missing players to injury (Glen Davis) and suspension (Hedo Turkoglu), it seems like the Magic might only have eight players active tonight, with the majority of them first- and second-year players.
That’s bad news for a team that was already competing for the league’s worst record, going 3-26 (!) since a 12-13 start. The Magic have only one road win since mid-December and just lost by double-digits at home to the Bobcats. They’re bad — and now getting worse.
So, this should be a mismatch, but while the Grizzlies are one of only eight teams that currently have a winning road record, they’ve been vulnerable at home lately. Since Christmas, the Grizzlies have suffered home losses to the Sixers, Blazers, Hornets, and Suns, all teams with losing records.
