NBA Playoff Series Betting – Suns Will Set In Conference Finals

The NBA Western Conference Finals are set: The Phoenix Suns are the last team standing in the way of the Los Angeles Lakers’ third straight Western Conference championship.

Phoenix Suns vs. Los Angeles Lakers
NBA Western Conference Finals
Begins Monday, May 17th in Los Angeles – 9:10 PM ET
Staples Center – Los Angeles, CA
TV for the entire series: TNT

NBA Betting Odds: Lakers -300

What The Suns Must Do To Win

Any team that’s playing the Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs is confronted with a simple and familiar phrase: “Easy to say, hard to do.” It’s obvious what Phoenix must do in order to win this series, but it’s going to be difficult to actually turn the trick.

The first and last key to this series from the Suns’ perspective is to hit shots. Yes, that might be overly simplistic analysis, but it’s true. Phoenix – like any other Laker opponent – needs to put the ball in the basket so that L.A.’s size and length are neutralized. Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and the other Laker post players are so tall and rangy that they’ll snap up most rebounds at both ends of the floor. Phoenix can’t play volleyball on the backboard; that’s a game the Suns are destined to lose. Coach Alvin Gentry needs to do with the Lakers what he did against the San Antonio Spurs: spread the floor and create matchups where his shooters (Channing Frye) and his wings (Jason Richardson) can break down Laker defenders off pick-and-roll plays. If Phoenix can hit threes and score big, the Suns have a chance.

What The Lakers Must Do To Win

Coach Phil Jackson has to focus on defensive matchups. The mano-a-mano battle that everyone will look to in this series is the likely confrontation between Phoenix X-factor Jason Richardson and L.A.’s defensive stopper, Ron Artest. Richardson makes Phoenix a very difficult team to beat when he scores at least 20 points, but Artest prides himself on his defense and focuses on that end of the floor. The Lakers should feel very confident about their chances in this series precisely because Artest is very likely to lock down on Richardson. This will force the Suns to find a third scoring option after Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. The best outlet for the underdogs is Leandro Barbosa, a very quick guard who can beat some of the Lakers’ other slower defenders off the dribble. Jackson and his staff will want to make sure Barbosa receives help defense and is turned into a jump shooter. If L.A. is able to keep Phoenix confined to a mid-range jump-shooting game – with few drives to the hole but also a minimum of open three-point attempts – the Lakers should find themselves in the NBA Finals for the third straight season.

Outlook & Pick

Here’s a very telling statistic: On seven occasions, the Suns and Lakers have met in the second or third round of the playoffs. In those seven series, the Lakers have won six times. The only occasion when Phoenix bumped off L.A. in a non-first-round series came in the 1990 Western Conference semifinals. That year, the Lakers – in their first season without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar since 1975 – were adjusting to life without their dependable big man. Yes, Phoenix has won three first-round series against the Lakers, but whenever L.A. owns the big guns in the postseason, this Interstate 10 matchup has been quite lopsided. The Lakers are too big, too physical, and too savvy for the Suns. Phoenix must shoot the lights out for rebounding to become a minimal factor; that’s just not likely at this stage of an NBA campaign. Kobe Bryant will score big, and the Lakers won’t need to sweat en route to the NBA Finals.

NBA Playoff Series Betting Pick: Lakers in five games