Denver Nuggets at Phoenix Suns
Time: 8 PM ET, Jan 19, 2014
Spread: PHO -1.5
Total: 218
Betting odds courtesy of Bovada
The Phoenix Suns have been the surprise team of the season thus far, but there are heavy indications that this team may not be as good as it has appeared. The Suns have won just four of its past ten games, and resultantly have fallen to the 8th spot in the Western Conference, with a two game lead over Memphis.
Realistically, no one expected the Suns—a team supposedly in full-on rebuild mode—to be a playoff team at all.
A little home cooking might be just the thing to help the Suns. The squad is 13-6 at home and its opponent, the Denver Nuggets, are a mediocre road team (9-10 on the season). NBA oddsmakers at Bovada find the Suns to be 1.5-point favorites in the matchup.
Phoenix lost Friday night in Dallas 110-107 despite 28 points from point guard Goran Dragic. Dragic is having his finest NBA season alongside the electric Eric Bledsoe, and though the backcourt may be slightly undersized, it’s caused more problems for opponents than its created for the Suns.
Bledsoe’s exceptional athleticism enables him to cover 2-guards relatively well. Dragic and Bledsoe combine to average 37.5 points and 11.8 assists per game. In other words, the tandem is responsible for over half the team’s buckets, either via the shot or assist.
That is not to say the Suns lack depth, however. Swingman Gerald Green has carved out a niche as a corner three-point shooter, while Markieff Morris and Channing Frye are both prototypical stretch-4s, a valuable type of player in the Suns offense and with the direction the league has gone in recent years.
The toughness the team has lacked has even come in the form of another surprise, Miles Plumlee. The second-year Duke product is averaging 9.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game in just 28 minutes a night. He’s a promising big and the Suns having so many players who have overachieved is what has made this young season special.
But the team must take care of business tonight against the Nuggets, for further losses are going to take the team into the lottery, where most figured it would be to begin with.
DEN Trends: OVER 4-0 in last 4 overall; OVER 5-0 in last 5 after allowing 100 or more in previous game; OVER 4-0 in last 4 road games.
PHO Trends: 4-0 ATS in last 4 Sunday games; OVER 4-0-1 in last 5 when opponent allows 100 or more in previous game; 0-4 ATS in last 4 when opponent allows 100 or more points in previous game.
Head-to-head: Nuggets 4-10 ATS in last 14 meetings in Phoenix; Nuggets 7-3-1 ATS in last 11 meetings.
