The Phoenix Suns need to defeat the LA Lakers and advance to the Western Conference semifinals. It is easier said than done, but still, having in mind that Anthony Davis might not be fully ready, or he won’t play at all, their win here is realistic. We already saw them beating the LAL in Staples, so why not doing it again. Though, the champions are a tough nut to crack, and they won’t give up that easy, that’s for sure. What if AD manages to fix his injury, then the whole situation changes.
Preview
Phoenix Suns (+115) beat the Lakers in Game 5 like just a few teams did throughout history. The final score was 115-85 for Monty Williams’ side, who annihilated the purple and the gold already in the first half. They didn’t have any sympathy towards the wounded opponents, but kept on pounding them until the very end of the match.
Devin Booker had 30 points, and was motivated to strike back at the champions following his departure in the previous match, once he had to hit the showers before the final buzzer.
Chris Paul had another injury, and many were frightened that he might aggravate his neck injury. According to himself, it wasn’t a big deal, and there is no way that he might skip Game 6. Cameron Payne was excellent off the bench with 16 points in 19 minutes, while Mikal Bridges added 13 buckets.
Los Angeles Lakers (-135) have to bounce back. If they fail to do that, their season is over, and that would be a massive disappointment for both the fans and the players. We don’t need to tell you what were and still are their goals for the current campaign.
That is why we can expect AD on the court. We already have some indications that the Lakers’ big man will come back, with him sharing some photos on the social networks. He brings much more than 21,8 points and 8 boards per match because of the defensive contribution and his role on the offense. With him onboard, the Lakers have numerous options on how to attack the rival’s basket.
The LAL were miserable with FG shooting percentage, having made 29 of 84 attempts in Game 5. Also, they had twice as few assists, 14, then the Suns, 29.
Head to Head Games
The Suns had two wins against the Lakers during the regular season. They won Game 1 of the playoffs, 99-90, before allowing the Lakers to snatch the next two, Game 2 109-102 and Game 3, 109-95. Phoenix would then defeat the champions 100-92 in Game 4 and slash them 115-85 in the last one.
Prediction
The Suns are on the rise, and we believe that they have enough power to defeat the Lakers even with Davis in the lineup. After all, they’ve done it before. Plus, the Eyebrow won’t be 100% ready, be sure about that. For some reason, they are underdogs in this game. Not huge, but still, underdogs. Despite all that, we will back up their victory because of the current situation with the Lakers’ most significant player (sorry ‘Bron fans, but this is the case here).
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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Email: nikola@wagerbop.com
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