Basketball betting matches up two of the top teams in the Western Conference on Sunday as the Los Angeles Lakers host the Phoenix Suns. The Lakers have best record in the West while the Suns are not far behind. Los Angeles is favored in NBA betting in what should be an exciting contest.
Basketball betting had the Lakers winning earlier this season 121-102 at home against the Suns. The NBA betting schedule isn’t doing the Suns any favors in this game as it is a back-to-back for the Suns since they played at home last night against Sacramento. The Lakers have won the season series against the Suns in each of the two previous years. The Lakers are 15-6 against the Suns all-time at Staples Center. In 46 career games against the Suns including 39 starts, Kobe Bryant is averaging 25.7 points per game.
The Lakers are usually overpriced in basketball betting, especially at home but in this matchup against the Suns, the trends do favor Los Angeles. The Lakers have won and covered the basketball betting line in seven of the last ten against Phoenix. They have won four of the last five at home against the Suns and they are 4-1 against the NBA betting odds in those games.
With these two high-powered offenses it would seem like the games should go over in basketball betting. That assumption would be true as 7 of the last 10 NBA betting meetings between the two have gone over the total. They just barely made it last month in the 121-102 Los Angeles win since the basketball betting total was 221. Four of the last five at Los Angeles between the two teams have gone over in basketball betting.
Phoenix has been first or second in points scored for much of the basketball betting season. The problem for the Suns in basketball betting is that their defense is in the bottom third of the league. They gave up 126 points earlier this week in a basketball betting loss to the Knicks.
The Lakers are in the Top 10 in scoring offense but the edge they have against Phoenix is that the Los Angeles defense is also in the Top 10 in the league as basketball betting stats show. Head coach Phil Jackson has been pleased with his team’s defense this season. “Some of it is height; some of it challenging shots and contesting shots; some of it is the time left on the clock to operate and how hurried teams are; and some of it is getting guys out of (their preferred) position on the floor,” he said.