Lakers @ Suns Preview and Picks

One of the worst teams on the road in the Los Angeles Lakers will head to Phoenix to take on the Suns. It was recently announced the Lakers will be without Lebron tonight so we’ll go over how that affects the betting information as well as a preview for the game and a best bet.

Game Preview

The Lakers enter tonight on a three-game winning streak that has brought their record to 5-10 on the season. I mentioned it before but Lebron James will not be playing tonight so Anthony Davis will need to fill an even bigger role than he usual tonight to keep up with this efficient Phoenix Suns offense.

Davis leads the Lakers in scoring with 25.6 ppg but that hasn’t been enough to support the entire offense. LA enters tonight 29th in the league in offensive rating and 25th in the league in NET rating at -2.7. Despite their recent winning streak, the Suns are not the ideal team face when trying to keep a winning streak going.

Phoenix has been the complete opposite of the Lakers this season and is actually 1st in the league in NET rating and offensive rating. Even with Chris Paul out due to an injury, the Suns have still been able to be successful on both ends of the floor. Devin Booker is averaging 27.6 ppg while Deandre Ayton putting up 14.6 ppg and 8.1 rebounds a game.

A large reason for the Suns' success has been their ability to move the ball on offense and create scoring opportunities. The Suns are fifth in the league in assists per game with 28 so even in the absence of Paul they have found a way on offense to get good looks for each other.

Betting Information Analysis

The Suns opened this game as -6.5 point favorites and even before the Lebron news that number was moving up. After the Lakers announced they would be without Lebron the number jumped to -9.5 in most shops. The Lakers have yet to cover the spread on the road this season and are 5-10 ATS in their 15 games this season.

Phoenix is 7-2 ATS when playing at home this season and 10-6 ATS in all their games. The Suns have dominated this head-to-head match-up recently as the Lakers are 1-6 ATS in the last 7 meetings between these two teams.

The point total has only moved a little as the game opened at 226.5 and is now up to 227 in most sportsbooks. The over is 7-3 in the Lakers' last 10 games but it is 4-6 in the Suns' last 10 games. The under is 7-2-1 in the last 10 games between these two teams.

Pick for the Game

I was on the Suns in this one before the Lebron news, but more specifically I was on the Suns' first-half spread. Phoenix -5.5 1H is my best bet for this game as the Suns have been really impressive in the first half this season and I think the Lakers could come out of the gate slowly.

Phoenix is top 10 in opponent scoring for both the first and second quarter and with the Lakers primarily relying on one guy to supply all the offense tonight I think the Suns could jump out to a big lead at home and try to put this one away early.