Phoenix at Golden State
Time: 9:30 PM CT (NBA TV)
Spread: GSW -15
Total: 232
Odds c/o 5dimes
The Golden State Warriors have won two-straight and will host the Phoenix Suns, losers of its last five, in the second game of an NBA TV double header Monday night.
The Suns are just 9-18 on the road, and Golden State is 21-7 at home where it will be heady 15-point favorites in tonight’s affair. The over/iunder is set high at 232 points, a reflection of Phoenix’s league-worst defense (the Suns surrender 112.6 points per game).
Phoenix
The Phoenix Suns have been mired in a horrible season, but made a clutch move at the trade deadline in acquiring Orlando Magic point guard and No. 10 overall pick in 2014 Elfrid Payton, for the lost cost of a second round pick. Phoenix now possibly has obtained its point guard of the future, though the list of black marks on Elfrid’s resume do abound. Magic analysts cited his poor defense and overall poor basketball IQ as ultimately irresolvable for the Orlando team, and it certainly did not defend well. Payton now transitions to a Suns team, however, which also has been poor defensively.
Phoenix allows 112.6 points per game while scoring just 104.4 itself. No team surrenders more buckets than the Suns, so can Payton manage to make that defense any worse? Perhaps he gets energized playing with his new team and star shooting guard Devin Booker, who is inarguably better than every talent Payton shared the court with while in Orlando. The Suns now have a really intriguing backcourt, and the Magic simply are trying to shed the team of what it had from the Rob Hennigan era (with the obvious exception of Aaron Gordon).
Phoenix will benefit from Payton’s court vision and ability to push the tempo, and it really could be a match made in heaven. That is not to say Phoenix will start winning games en masse, but the realist’s outlook is that a former lottery pick with four triple doubles to his resume could flourish in a high octane offense with the Suns.
Golden State
The Warriors most recently trounced the San Antonio Spurs 122-105 and the Dallas Mavericks 121-103…but prior to those wins it had dropped three of four contests, with losses to Oklahoma City, Denver and Utah over that span. A big win over the Sacramento Kings mixes in, but the Dubs have lost three of five overall and desperately need to get a win to keep its place atop the Western Conference standings. Golden State did not dapple with other teams at the trade deadline, instead standing pat with a roster that has shown few flaws at any rate.
The Warriors could have sought to improve, but instead with the “do not fix what is not broken” adage in not engaging at the deadline. Instead, the team moves forward with its four All-Stars, and two MVPs, as the prohibitive NBA Finals favorite for the fourth straight season (albeit only two of the previous three resulted in a title!). The Warriors have strung together the most dominant three-run season stretch in NBA history, per wins only, and the fact that the front office realized there is no tinkering with something already balanced was a mature and wise decision overall.
Stephen Curry is leading the team in scoring this year with 27.2 points per game, to go with his 5.1 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.58 steals per night. Durant trails him at 26 points per game, but Durant is really close to having a 50/40/90 season, as he is shooting 51 percent from the floor, 42 percent from three and 89 percent at the line. Thompson, too, is close to that precipice, but falls shorter at the charity stripe where he is just 86 percent.
Draymond Green is only attempting 8.9 field goals per game, but he leads the team in assists with 7.3 per game, and he is vital in defending a myriad of switched pick and rolls on defense, having the foot speed and agility to switch out onto guards and defend them in the isolation that follows.
Green is one of the best defenders to come through the league in recent seasons, and his stellar ability to disrupt sets is one of the reasons why the Warriors are such a strong defensive team overall. He keeps the defensive lineup active and fast, rather than slowing it down with a traditional 5. Green,of course, starts at center, but he has a lot of positionless traits as an NBA player, and perhaps the league has not seen such a physical specimen with such grace since the late Anthony Mason. Indeed, they are similar type players.
