After beating Utah before falling to Oklahoma City in a back-to-back, the Portland Trail Blazers have a chance to conclude a three-game road trip with a winning record when they pay a visit to the lowly Phoenix Suns in Arizona on Thursday. Sportsbooks opened the Suns as 7.5-point home underdogs with a total of 218.5.
- The Suns are 2-5 ATS in their last seven games at home.
- The total has gone UNDER in eight of the Trail Blazers’ last 11 games on the road (avg. combined score: 219.45).
- The Trail Blazers are 8-0 SU in their last eight games vs the Suns (avg. winning margin: 13.88).
Trail Blazers vs Suns Game Center
Suns’ struggles have been hard to watch
The Suns own the worst record in the Western Conference at 11-38 SU and are losers of five straight in light of a 118-91 home setback to Minnesota on Tuesday. Star shooting guard Devin Booker wasn’t on the floor at the end of the game after he was ejected for an altercation in the third quarter. Booker, who averages 24.2 points per game, got into a heated exchange with Timberwolves forward Gorgui Dieng that led to the ejection of both players.
As of this writing, an announcement regarding Booker’s status for tonight’s game had yet to be made, but we’ll update the preview accordingly if it happens.
After the loss to the Thunder, Portland fell one game behind OKC in the battle for third place in the Western Conference. The Trail Blazers go up against the Suns tonight and Atlanta on Saturday – two teams near the bottom of the NBA standings. Center Jusuf Nurkic collected 22 points and 15 rebounds on Tuesday for his fourth double-double in the past five games.
Blazers have owned this series of late
Just how badly have the Trail Blazers dominated this series of late? In Portland’s past eight meetings with the Suns, the Blazers are 8-0 SU with an average winning margin of 13.9 points. Damian Lillard and company have been an excellent spread bet on their own of late, covering in six of their previous eight heading into tonight’s matchup.
When it comes to the total, bettors may want to consider the UNDER. The UNDER is 8-3 in the Trail Blazers’ past 11 road games with an average combined score of 219 points, while the Suns have gone UNDER in seven of their last 10 overall with an average closing total of 218.5 or less.
My pick: take the UNDER
The aforementioned betting trends have this one trending UNDER, and I think that’s an accurate projection. The Suns simply haven’t been able to score enough to be a reliable OVER bet, while the Trail Blazers have proved to be a reliable source of UNDERs on the road. Expect this one to stay below the total.
