NBA Playoff Betting Action – Phoenix vs Los Angeles

Unlike the Eastern Conference Finals, the best of seven NBA playoff betting series in the Western Conference has gotten a heck of a lot more interesting. On Sunday night, the Phoenix Suns cut the deficit in the series to two games to one by beating the Los Angeles Lakers 118-109. Now, Phoenix will get a chance to get even in this series and take the Western Conference Finals back to Tinseltown all tied up at two games apiece.

#1 Los Angeles Lakers (67-28, 41-51-3 ATS) vs. #3 Phoenix Suns (63-32, 57-37-1 ATS)

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, May 25th, 9:00 ET
Game Location: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ
TV/Radio Broadcast: TNT, Sirius

NBA Playoff Odds
Los Angeles Lakers -1.5
Phoenix Suns +1.5
Game Total 221

The men in the paint really let the Lakers down in Game 3. C Andrew Bynum looks terrible on the court right now. He played just eight minutes and picked up four fouls in his brief night of work. If Bynum can’t contribute more than two points and two boards, it may be time for HC Phil Jackson to shut him down for the rest of this series and hope that perhaps his knee can heal in time for the NBA Finals should the Lakers make it that far.

F Lamar Odom had picked up the slack for Bynum prior to Game 3, but Sunday night was one that he’d like to forget. Odom shot just 4-of-14 from the floor and failed to convert any of his four attempts from downtown; he scored ten points in all and brought in just six boards before fouling out.

The Lakers wasted a fantastic game from G Kobe Bryant. Bryant went off for 36 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds, but he proved that he is not going to be able to win games in this series by himself on a regular basis as he did in Game 1 when he poured in 40 points.

For Phoenix, the man of the hour was F Amare Stoudemire. It didn’t matter whether it was Bynum, Odom, or F Pau Gasol guarding him. It was clear that Stoudemire was a man on a mission, and he scored 42 points and ripped down 11 boards to show for his dominating efforts.

C Robin Lopez, who missed the beginning of these playoffs injured, came up with one of the biggest games of his young career. The Stanford Cardinal shot 8-of-10 from the field and scored 20 points in the victory.

G Steve Nash also had his best showing, going 5-of-10 from the floor and a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe, scoring 17 points and dishing out 15 assists overall.

NBA Playoff Insider Tip: Phoenix is now 37-18-1 ATS in its L/56 home games overall.

Home court advantage in the NBA is just something that cannot be ignored, especially when you’re talking about going against the defending champions. Phoenix knows that this is a game that cannot slip away for any reason whatsoever, or it almost certainly will not get back to the desert for Game 6.

If Stoudemire and Lopez can mirror their Game 3 efforts respectively, the Suns are going to make the Lakers set in Game 4′s NBA playoff betting action on Tuesday night.

My NBA Playoff Prediction: Phoenix by 8