NBA Playoff Betting – Phoenix Suns Road Shooting Biggest Game 5 Question

Steve Nash is broken, bruised and blinded in the Western Conference Finals, but he’s far from beaten. The Phoenix Suns enjoyed a series changing performance from their bench to clinch Game 4 and tie the series with the Los Angeles Lakers. Two rousing wins at home have revitalized the Phoenix Suns, but carrying that momentum back in to the STAPLES Center makes this a harrowing NBA playoff betting pick.

Phoenix struggled in Games 1 and 2 while they adjusted to the frantic scoring pace of the Lakers after playing in a slugfest series against the Spurs. The change in tempo required to keep up with the Lakers took some fine tuning, but it seems that the 10-man rotation of Phoenix is just catching on. In road games during NBA playoff betting, they’re 4-3 SU and ATS when playing on the road.

Strange as it sounds, Phoenix is also the only team which has either won straight up and cleared the spread, or lost both. The reason that’s so important is because of the large spread in this game. The oddsmakers have pinned the tail on the Suns aptly, and the betting public has been better served trusting their judgment.

Phoenix Suns (54-28) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (57-25)
Thursday, May 27th — STAPLES Center — 9:00pm EST
NBA Betting Line: Lakers -7.5 (217.5)

Digging deeper in to the numbers, the Suns have shot just 49.5 percent from the field when playing on the road in the playoffs. It’s also worth noting that Phoenix has won just once when they shoot less than 52.0 percent. They managed to win Game 4 against the Spurs by shooting just 45.7 percent from the field.

That being said, the Suns shot just 49.4 percent from the field when they played at the STAPLES Center earlier in this series. As well as Phoenix played in front of their home crowd, they have to prove to themselves that the turnaround in Phoenix wasn’t a result of home-court advantage.

I have been pulling for the Suns on a personal level, but the problem is that we’ve read this story before. Denver should the same kind of resolve and fight last season that Phoenix is showing this year. This doesn’t mean I’m totally jumping off the bandwagon, but if you haven’t been betting on the Phoenix Suns in this series, now is a bad time to start.

Furious NBA Playoff Betting Pick – Lakers -7.5 (UNDER)