{"id":21730,"date":"2012-02-19T10:05:02","date_gmt":"2012-02-19T15:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=21730"},"modified":"2012-02-19T10:05:02","modified_gmt":"2012-02-19T15:05:02","slug":"nba-predictions-los-angeles-lakers-vs-phoenix-suns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nba-predictions-los-angeles-lakers-vs-phoenix-suns-21730\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Predictions: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Phoenix Suns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Lakers at Phoenix Suns
\nSunday, 2\/19\/12, 8:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FSAZ
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Los Angeles -2.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Los Angeles -2.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 189
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 189.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is leading the NBA in scoring<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Los Angeles will finish off a two-game set against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night, capturing a 111-99 series win as eight-point home favorites two days ago.\u00a0 The Lakers were led by star guard Kobe Bryant offensively, scoring a team-high 36 points on 14-of-25 shooting from the floor.\u00a0 He currently leads the league in scoring 28.9 points per game and has averaged 26.6 points in 48 starts versus the Suns.\u00a0 Los Angeles is 10-12 ATS as a road favorite of three points or less.<\/p>\n

The Lakers have tallied a 6-4 record against the Suns in their last 10 trips to the US Airways Center.\u00a0 Los Angeles has struggled away from Southern California this year, posting a 5-10 road record, which includes a 3-5 mark versus Western Conference opponents.\u00a0 There\u2019s no question that the franchise\u2019s focus has switched to defense under first-year head coach Mike Brown, ranking fourth in the league in allowing 90.7 points per game.<\/p>\n

Phoenix will look to snap a four-game losing streak and has gone \u201cover\u201d the total in two consecutive games.\u00a0 The Suns definitely know they must do a better job of controlling Bryant in hopes of gaining revenge.\u00a0 \u201cSomebody else is going to have to step up to slow him down at least,\u201d stated Suns head coach Alvin Gentry.\u00a0 The team is 5-8 at home this season and will look to improve upon its 3-3 mark versus Western Conference rivals.\u00a0 Phoenix is 5-12 ATS when revenging a loss versus an opponent this year and the \u201cunder\u201d is 13-4 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Suns have lost four-straight games in this series, but it\u2019s important to note that four of the last five have been played at Staples Center.\u00a0 Phoenix must get out to a good start against Los Angeles, posting a 10-3 record when leading at the half, which is far different than its 2-16 mark when trailing.\u00a0 Center Marcin Gortat is the only player on the roster that has started in all 31 games this season.\u00a0 He has enjoyed playing against the Lakers, averaging 20.3 points and 14.7 rebounds in the last three meetings of the series.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Suns due to their 21-13 ATS mark in February, while the Lakers are 4-11 ATS on the road.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NBA handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Lakers at Phoenix Suns Sunday, 2\/19\/12, 8:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FSAZ Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Los Angeles -2.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Los Angeles -2.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 189 Current Total:\u00a0 189.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Los Angeles will finish off a two-game set against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night, capturing a 111-99 series win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":3957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[67,68,1002,18,577,4249,3693],"class_list":["post-21730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-marcin-gortat","tag-nba","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-us-airways-center","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21731,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21730\/revisions\/21731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}