Phoenix at Brooklyn
Time: 8 PM ET
TV: ESPN
Spread: BRO -2.5
Total: 209
The Phoenix Suns are 32-30 and sit two games behind OKC for that last playoff spot. Few expect Phoenix to contend for it. The Suns lost both Isaiah Thomas to Boston and Goran Dragic to Miami at the trade deadline, and finding stability has been tough.
The Suns have won just three of its past 10 games and NBA live lines at Bovada show the hosting Brooklyn Nets as 2.5 point favorites in tonight’s affair. The betting total is set at 209, and for an explanation of how to bet NBA odds see our NBA odds explained.
With just 20 games remaining on the schedule it is going to be tough for the Suns to reel off a substantial streak and surpass both New Orleans (who is without two starters) and OKC. Phoenix is also not especially dominant at home, where it has gone just 17-13 this season. Phoenix has typically had no trouble scoring the ball, ranking 3rd in the Association in points per game, but equivocally, its defense ranks the 3rd-worst.
The Suns are banking heavily on Brandon Knight, despite a short resume that only includes strong play for a poor Milwaukee Bucks team. Knight had a big game in the 105-100 victory over the Orlando Magic in scoring 28 points and helping ice the game at the line in the fourth quarter. He and Bledsoe have the potential to be a strong backcourt for a time to come. Knight got to the line 12 times in the game and Bledsoe shot another six, as the Suns starters attempted 25 total free throws to Orlando’s 11.
Eric Bledsoe is performing about as well as could have been expected, but he’s going to have to take on an even larger role with Dragic removed from the picture. Dealing Dragic was a near must with him wanting out, but letting go of the dynamic water bug Thomas made less sense. Tyler Ennis has been in the D-League most of the season and the Suns lack playmakers behind Knight. Gerald Green is still mostly an offensive player, and the Suns don’t really have frontcourt threats to balance what was at one point a loaded backcourt.
It’s tough to see where the Suns are going, and the playoffs are not a likely destination. Alex Len has looked very promising, but the Suns don’t really have a franchise talent, notwithstanding that Bledsoe still has a higher ceiling to reach. Markieff Morris is a good stretch-4, but he’s a role player, and this Suns team needs a couple more legitimate two-way players in both the frontcourt and backcourt.
Brooklyn is a game behind No. 8 Charlotte for the final playoff spot in the East. As to whether the Nets make it or not may be irrelevant. There is really only one standout club in the East in Atlanta, and fighting for the right to draw the Hawks in the first round may be a death sentence to the Nets’ postseason.
Just four years into the ownership experiment Mikhail Prokhorov already wants to jump ship, and he quickly took a lesson in learning that winning titles in sports is not as easy as just dumping money on the table. No much has gone right in Brooklyn, and the team could find no takers for Brook Lopez at the deadline, nor Joe Johnson. The Nets aged core of Johnson and Deron Williams isn’t going to get this team over the hump, and at this point the most promising talent on the team is Mason Plumlee. The Nets may be looking at a rebuilding effort that has Plumlee is the centerpiece, and that isn’t exactly inspiring.
