The Cleveland Cavaliers get set to tangle against the short-handed Memphis Grizzlies Thursday night inside FedExForum in Memphis, TN. They jump it up at 8:00 pm.

The Cavaliers have played very well this season and they are not coming into the campaign as a sleeper team anymore. They have some serious talent and some solid depth on their bench. They understand deep benches typically mean deep runs into the playoffs. The season is a grind and they have been fortunate to have a veteran scorer in Donovan Mitchell step up and make some big-time plays and shots for them. They entered Wednesday's action ten games over .500 on the season. 

The 27-year-old shooting guard is leading the team in scoring with 27.7 points per contest to go along with 5.5 rebounds and just over six assists per night. The Cavaliers are hoping to get point guard Darius Garland back out on the floor as well. He has only played in 20 games and has been out because of a jaw injury. 

He was averaging 20.7 points in close to 34 minutes of action on the floor. He is a sound player and he can take the ball right to the basket and is not afraid to attack the tin. They would love to have him out there. 

Cleveland overall, is connecting on over 50% from the floor and they are one of the better shooting teams in the league. 

They also drain around 38% from beyond the arc. Shooting guard Caris LeVert is one of their better shooters from long range.

The Grizzlies have had a very inconsistent first half to the season. They finally welcomed back superstar Ja Morant back to the lineup after his suspension, only to lose him again after just nine games due to surgery on his right shoulder. He is done for the remainder of the season and so is his 25 points per game average.

Memphis is a very banged-up and short-handed team. They have dropped two straight and were not even competitive against the Sacramento Kings during a 103-94 loss. They relied too much on the three-point shot and were able to connect on 13-of-36 from three-point land. But that is because they do not have a ton of playmakers who can take the ball to the basket, and that favors the Cavaliers.

Memphis needs to slow the tempo and the pace down in this one and hope that Cleveland has an off night when it comes to shooting. 

If they can get a big game from power forward Jaren Jackson Jr., who is scoring 21 a game, they might be able to keep this game close heading into the fourth quarter. 

The Grizzlies are 3-2 in their last five games and a solid 5-0 in their last five games against the number. They are also 15-11 in their road games against the spread. The Cavaliers are 4-1 in their last five games and are a very impressive 4-1 in their last five games against the number too. They are 11-8 in their road games against the spread. 

Note: At the time of this publication, Bookmaker has no line on this game. We will wait until later to see what the line is but for now, we side with Memphis.