Hot Shooters – Phoenix Suns vs. New Orleans Hornets

The Phoenix Suns travel to New Orleans to take on the Hornets with precious time running out for a playoff run.  The Suns are 4 games behind the Dallas Mavericks for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.  At 42 and 35, their record straight-up is above .500 but that might not be good enough.  ATS the Suns have been terrible this season going 32-42-2 overall.  Their ATS record on the road is 14-22-1.

New Orleans has been a much better team after the All-Start break.  Point-guard Chris Paul is now averaging over 22 points and over 10 assists a game.  The Hornets are currently the 6th seed in the playoffs but after the Lakers, every team in the Western Conference that has secured a playoff spot, Denver, Portland, Utah, New Orleans, Houston and San Antonio are all within three to four games of each other.  New Orleans is 48 and 29 straight-up, 33-42-2 ATS overall, and 18-20-1 at home.

Here is the betting line for this game.

Phoenix Suns
+3 ½ -110 +145 O 221½ -110 New Orleans Hornets
-3 ½ -110 -165 U 221½ -110

Here are a few online wagering trends for this game.

The Phoenix Suns are 3 and 7 ATS in their last 10 games on the road.

The Over is 5 and 0 in the Suns last 5 games versus a team with a winning straight-u record.

The New Orleans Hornets are 1 and 4 ATS in their last 5 games after an ATS victory.

The Under is 6 and 1 in the New Orleans Hornets last 7 games on the road.

These two teams haven’t met since December of 2008.  In that game the Hornets won easily 104 to 95 but the Suns hadn’t resorted to their up tempo style yet. 

Phoenix has been putting up an unreal amount of points lately.  Unfortunately, it hasn’t translated to victories all of the time, but they’ve at least become entertaining again.

The Hornets prefer to take their time with the basketball, but they can run when they have to as evidenced by their 111 to 110 victory over the Sacramento Kings on March 31st.

The reason I’m looking to make a wager on the BetOnline Total is because neither one of these teams are all that good ATS.  Neither team has an advantage in this game based on trends.

So, I’m going to try to make the wager that makes the most sense regarding the total.

Phoenix only put up 99 against the Jazz on March 28th, but even with that game, the Suns are averaging over 118 points.  They’ve been scoring against some pretty good defensive teams like putting up 114 against Houston and 118 against Denver.  Against Dallas, on the road, the Suns put up 116.

I believe that instead of trying to play against the Suns’ style, New Orleans will run with them.

I’m going to bet the over in this game.  New Orleans will have to take their chances when they arise.  Because they’re playing the Suns, easy baskets should be there for the taking.

I’ll bet this game to go over the BetOnline Total of 221 ½ points.