Washington at Phoenix
Time: 8 PM CT (NBA LP)
Spread: WAS -3.5
Total: 225.5
Betting odds c/o 5dimes
The Washington Wizards are still one of the hottest teams in the East, as winners of seven of its past 10 games and possessors of a 37-24 record, good for No. 3 in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The Wizards will travel to face Phoenix in the first game of its Western Conference Road trip. The Wizards go on to face Denver, Sacramento, Portland and Minnesota on the remainder of the trip. As well as Washington has been playing, the chance to go 5-0 on the Western trip is there, but it begins by knocking off the lowliest first as 3.5 point favorites against the Phoenix Suns.
Phoenix has the second-worst record in the West behind only the L.A. Lakers, but the Suns have amassed their longest winning streak of the 2016-17 season at three games, and they will look to extend it at home where the team has gone 13-18 this season. Over the three wins, Phoenix has knocked off quality opponents, defeating Boston 109-106 last outing and preceded by wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder and Charlotte Hornets. The Suns have won by an average of nine points per game over the three wins, but still will have their hands full with Bradley Beal and John Wall tonight.
Phoenix is a team heavily-laded with guards, but it has been getting strong play out of rookie Tyler Ulis who hit the game winning three as part of his 20 points off the Suns’ bench in the win over Boston. The Suns are not the greatest collection of shooters, but the team is playing hard and is loaded with young athletes. Playing the role of “spoiler” may be all that is left for this group, but NBA talents always have something to prove and these are guys playing for bigger roles and certain contracts.
To expect the players themselves to participate in any so-called tanking effort is naive at any rate, and Eric Bledsoe has no quit in him, either. The Suns are going to rallly through the final quarter of the season, and notching wins over quality opponents like the Wizards tonight remains a goal for a team trying to establish its rhythm, identity and role in a season that has not quite gone as Phoenix hoped it would.
But there have been bright spots in the season, and the emergence of its young talent has to be paramount of those for Phoenix. 2016 lottery pick Marquese Chriss is just 19 years old, but his athleticism has already made him a valued part of the rotation.
The forward is averaging eight points and 3.5 rebounds per game while coming up with 1.47 blocks/steals in just 19.5 minutes a night. Alex Len, too, is progressing.
And P.J. Tucker can be a consistent offensive weapon when the Suns keep the swingman involved. The main issue for Phoenix remains its poor shooting. For a team so heavily reliant on backcourt play, it shoots just 34.1 percent on 22.9 threes attempted per game. Bledsoe, much like Russell Westbrook in OKC, attempts a lot (4.6 per game) while shooting a mediocre 33 percent. Even marksman Devin Booker shoots just 37 percent from behind the arc and 42.5 percent overall. To improve, the Suns will need better shooting from its backcourt and some tinkering this offseason.
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There is some good young talent emerging, and Alan Williams has looked very good at center in recent times. Williams is just 6’8” but his wide body has garnered 9.1 reboiunds and 11.4 pionts per game over the Suns last nine contests, while shooting 57.3 percent from the field. While Phoenix has gone just 4-5 over that span, it is better than the season mark by a good bit and Williams has had four double-doubles over that span. The 24-year-old looks to be a part of the team’s future every bit as much as lottery pick Dragan Bender, who has faced various injuries and inconsistent playing time as the team’s other 19 year old.
Phoenix has sneakily amassed some premier frontcourt players and has a glut of talented guards, so to imagine this roster retooling slightly and balancing itself into a playoff contender as early as next season is not altogether far-fetched. There are teams with tougher rebuilds in front of them than what Phoenix faces, which is a pretty talented team that simply needs to be rounded into form.
The Wizards, meanwhile, have rounded into form about as well as could be expected. It is a team still too heavily reliant on its starters, but when rotations shorten in the postseason this will not be a problem. It will not be a problem, unless John Wall and the starting unit has worn itself out too throughly by that still somewhat distant juncture of the season.
The Wizards did make a shrewd move in adding shooter Bogan Bogdanovic at the trade deadline, and he has been sensational since coming to Washington. The Wizards are just 11-15 on the road this season, and Phoenix is rolling thoiugh, so this game should be as close as oddsmakers project. Though Washington is a better team, this seems like a potential let-down game for Wall and company and Phoenix makes an attractive moneyline bet in this affair.
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