NBA Betting Picks: Phoenix Suns at Golden State Warriors

Added on Dec 02, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

Only two games on the NBA betting board for Thursday and this one will be significantly overshadowed by the earlier contest as LeBron James returns to Cleveland for the first time as a member of the Miami Heat. Despite the fact that it won’t get as much mainstream media attention we think this Western Conference matchup between the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors has the strongest NBA wagering position of the day.

Phoenix Suns at Golden State Warriors
December 2, 2010 7:30 PM Pacific

The last time the Phoenix Suns were in action they lost to the Denver Nuggets 138-133 in a game completely devoid of defense. The Nuggets were without Carmelo Anthony who left due to illness and decided to push the tempo–and Phoenix happily complied. That ridiculous 271 points scored does provide some good value for tonight’s game at Golden State. For the Suns, Grant Hill is listed as ‘questionable’ with his nagging ankle injury.

A very effective concept for successfully handicapping any sport is to stay ahead of the ‘public perception’. The ‘public’ formulates certain opinions about a team over time and these are slow to change even when the makeup of their personnel, coaching or tactical approach undergoes a radical transformation. A good example of this was the Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL last season–most of the offseason had been dominated by talk about the team’s off ice financial issues and it took most of the regular season for the ‘public’ to realize the dramatic improvements in the team. Historically, the Golden State Warriors have been a high scoring, all offense/no defense team. That’s starting to change under new head coach Keith Smart who is starting to rebuild the team into one with a greater focus on defense. They’re still not going to be mistaken for the late 1980′s New York Knicks, but they are showing improvement and the result has been lower scoring games. Warriors are Under in 12 of 18 games this season including 7 of their last 10. Phoenix still prefers the uptempo game, but they no longer can force opponents into this style unwillingly. With a huge total to work with we’ll look for a final score in the low 200′s and an easy win on the Under.

Bet Phoenix/Golden State Under 228′