NBA Betting – Portland Trail Blazers at Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers (-1, 205 o/u) at Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns (38-34, 21-16 home) are three games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the playoff last spot in the Western Conference. With just ten games left on the schedule, all are must wins – especially home games like tonight’s tilt with the Portland Trail Blazers (45-25, 17-18 away) at US Airways Center (10:00 PM Eastern).
The Suns held down a playoff spot for much of the season, but took a nosedive after reworking their roster at the trade deadline. The team has looked better of late, recently posting a four-game win streak to get back into playoff contention. But they had that streak snapped on Wednesday with a bad 108-99 loss to Sacramento at home.
“It was a tough loss, but at the end of the day, we’re right there,” said Suns guard Eric Bledsoe. “We still have a couple of games left that are winnable games.”
After facing Portland, Phoenix hosts OKC in a pivotal matchup on Sunday.
Portland, on the other hand, currently occupies top spot in the Northwest Division – five games up on those same Thunder. But that lead has shrunk over the last week as the Blazers dropped five in a row (including four straight on the road). They ended the losing streak with a narrow 92-89 win in Utah, but they are now just one game up on the Clippers for fourth in the Western Conference. Should they get bypassed, it will mean losing home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
“We needed a win, and there was satisfaction we found a way to win even after we didn’t shoot the ball well for most of the game,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said after downing the Jazz. “For us, it was a gritty win, and we did it a little unconventionally and I think it’s satisfying.”
Portland is listed as a one-point favorite for tonight’s game and the total is at 205. The Suns have won seven of the last ten in the series.
On the injury front, Wesley Matthews remains out for the remainder of the season for the Blazers (Achilles), while Chris Kamun and Nicholas Batum are both questionable for tonight’s game. For the Suns, key deadline acquisition Brandon Knight is questionable (ankle), as is Marcus Thornton (toe).
If Knight can’t go, consider the under.
(Photo credit: nikk_la (Flickr: K26A0442) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
