Oklahoma City Thunder vs Memphis Grizzlies Prediction: Can the Thunder now cope with Memphis?

Oklahoma beat the host Utah Jazz in the opening game of the Summer League tournament in Salt Lake City. Can the Thunder now cope with Memphis? The Grizzlies also won their first game, against Philadelphia, and expect a second success in a row.

The key moment against Utah was the second quarter, as the Thunder scored 43 points in 10 minutes to take a 16-point lead into the big break. Their opponent had won the second half but could not return from a significant handicap. Oklahoma got off to a solid start with a 95:85 victory.

The difference in the game with Utah was expectedly made by the starting players on last season's core team. Gileen Williams scored 21 points, and Jaylen Williams had 13 rebounds. In addition, Tre Mann scored 20 points. Chet Holmgren had 15 points.

The tournament's first game was more difficult for the Grizzlies than for Oklahoma. Only in the end did the Memphis team manage to crush Philadelphia, 94:92. Despite their 100 points, the Grizzlies' offense was poor - 20 assists and 21 turnovers.

Kenneth Lofton was the top scorer for Memphis in game one with 21 points. David Roddy and Jake LaVavia, two other core team players, had 18 and 12 points, respectively. Vince Williams has 19 points.

It should be noted that Memphis is coached in this tournament by Ukrainian specialist Vitaliy Potapenko.

If you exclude the weird second quarter, Oklahoma's game against Utah should have been a draw. The Thunder played great defense; Tre Mann made three steals, four other players added one, and Chet Holmgren had four blocked shots. Memphis scored 94 points in the game against Philadelphia, but it was more the opponent's problems, who allowed 45 times to attack their ring from beyond the three-point arc, and the Grizzlies hit 16 times.

We're betting on Oklahoma to beat Memphis in the Summer League for the second year in a row, as well as on a TU, like last year's game.