NBA Playoff Betting – Spurs Will Have Momentum

Game 4 is usually a pivotal point in a best-of-seven series, so the action will heat up when the San Antonio Spurs host the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night in the Lone Star State.

Sunday, May 9th – 8:10 PM ET

AT&T Center –San Antonio, TX

Phoenix Suns @ San Antonio Spurs

The Week That Was: Suns

Game 3 of this series is being played on Friday night, after this article was written. What to look for in Game 4, then? Consider the past week of basketball and what it has meant for the Suns.

Coach Alvin Gentry’s team wobbled against the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. Phoenix’s superstar point guard, Steve Nash, committed at least six turnovers on multiple occasions in the series, and when Phoenix clinched the best-of-seven battle on Thursday, April 29, Nash did not look fully healthy.

It seemed next to impossible to think that the Suns could thrive against the San Antonio Spurs, not just because the Spurs had won the last three playoff series between these two teams, but because Phoenix looked frail.

That frailty has gone right out the window in the first two games of this Western Conference semifinal showdown. Phoenix’s bench is outplaying San Antonio’s reserves, and the Suns are also winning battles in the paint.

Jared Dudley and Louis Amundson are snatching loose balls near the rim, giving the Suns extra possessions and making the San Antonio Spurs work harder at the defensive end.

The Week That Was: Spurs

The one team with as many world championships as the Los Angeles Lakers since 1999 is now in trouble. Almost everyone in the basketball world felt San Antonio would beat Phoenix, but that scenario is now unlikely; not impossible, but definitely unlikely.

The Spurs will have to win four of the next five games against Phoenix (with Game 3 being played Friday night, after this article was written). Moreover, they lost two games by nearly identical scores: 111-102 in Game 1 this past Monday, and 110-102 in Game 2 on Wednesday.

The Suns have been comprehensively better than the Spurs, who aren’t getting all of their players to play well at the same time. In Game 1, Tim Duncan played a horrible first half before rallying in the second half to score a quiet 20 points. George Hill and Richard Jefferson went a combined 3 of 12 from the field in Game 1.

In Game 2, Duncan (29 points), Hill (14 points) and Jefferson (18) performed well, but Manu Ginobili went just 2 of 8 from the field, and forward DeJuan Blair played only nine low-impact minutes. The Spurs need everyone to contribute; otherwise, they’re finished.

Outlook & Pick

San Antonio has been through the rigors of playoff basketball a lot more than the Suns have over the past several years. Phoenix Suns has rarely made deep playoff runs, making the Western Conference Finals twice (in 2005 and 2006), but not winning.

The Spurs, on the other hand, own four rings over the past 12 seasons, and they understand the demands of the postseason better than Phoenix does. The Suns look quicker on the court, and they might very well win the series, but San Antonio should make Phoenix earn this best-of-seven triumph.

Game 4 should fall in the hands of the Spurs.

NBA Playoff Betting Pick: Spurs > > SIGN UP NOW