The San Antonio Spurs take their act to the valley of the Suns as they take on the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, 10/31/18, at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Spurs are 4-2 on the season and have won back to back games heading to this contest. Meanwhile, the Suns are 1-5 on the season and have lost five games in a row after winning their opening game of the season.
After a tumultuous 2017-18 season, the San Antonio Spurs are moving on quite well so far this season. The Spurs were embroiled in the Kawhi Leonard drama last season, then saw Tony Parker leave in free agency and lost Manu Ginobili to retirement. San Antonio then traded Leonard and Danny Green for DeMar DeRozan and saw starting point guard Dejounte Murray go down with an injury before the season began. Despite those, the Spurs have still managed to open the season at 4-2, tied for the best record in the Southwest Division.
Although the Spurs lost a great two way player in Leonard, they acquired a top notch scorer in All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan who has so far been playing excellent basketball in San Antonio. DeRozan currently leads the Spurs in scoring with his 28.3 points per game average which is by far a career high for the 10 year guard. Aside from scoring, DeRozan is also chipping in 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 1.3 steals per game, all of which are career best numbers for him. More importantly, DeRozan is the closer that the Spurs lacked last year with Leonard on the sidelines.
If there is something the Spurs need to improve on based on their early performance, it’s their defense which is ranked just 20th in the league in points allowed at 116.8 points per game. The Spurs also rank 27th among 30 teams in opponent field goal percentage allowed at 49.3% which is the reason why their foes score much on them. They also rank 28th in opponent three point field goal percentage at 39.7%.
The season has has not started well for the Phoenix Suns, but it is as expected. With the Suns on a rebuild, no one is predicting them to make the postseason. Rather, everyone is interested in how their one-two punch of Devin Booker and #1 pick Deandre Ayton play together this season. So far so good as Ayton is averaging 17.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game this season, including four double doubles in six games played. Booker has been sensational but there are some concerns regarding his health.
Booker recently returned from surgery in his right hand and looked like he was never been better when the season started. Booker opened the season averaging 27.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game while shooting 50.7% from the field and 38.7% from behind the three point arc. But Booker suffered a hamstring injury during the Suns’ loss to the Lakers and has missed their last two games. He is still listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game against the Spurs as of 10/30/18.
The Suns are already 25th in the league in scoring at 105.7 points per game and Booker’s absence is going to hurt those numbers further. Despite missing Booker, the Suns lost by just 7 points to the Thunder in their last game as Elie Okobo has played well in the two games without Booker. Okobo averaged 15 points and 4.5 assists on 9-18 shooting, including 5-11 from three point distance. But if Booker is going to miss more games though, his absence is going to hurt the Suns in the long run.
The Spurs lead their all-time series 93-76. San Antonio has won 13 out of the last 15 meetings between these teams dating back to the 2014-15 season. The Spurs also won all four games against the Suns last season, winning by an aggregate score of 448-366.
The Spurs are playing great basketball right now and are winning while allowing DeMar DeRozan to be their primary playmaker. DeRozan has excelled in that role, dishing off at least 8 assists in four of his last five games. The rest of the team has also responded by winning three out of their last four games played. Aside from being the playmakers, DeRozan is also emerging as the Spurs closer. He closed out the Lakers and then the Suns most recently. The Spurs were a good team last season but without a closer in the absence of Kawhi Leonard, they couldn’t go deep in the playoffs. With DeRozan filling that role nicely, the Spurs are in a good spot this season.
As for Phoenix, they are on rebuilding mode. Booker’s absence leaves a huge hole in the Suns’ offense. We may see some role player step up in games but no one can really replace Devin Booker. This one should be easy for the Spurs. We’re picking the San Antonio Spurs to beat the Phoenix Suns on 10/31/18.
San Antonio is 3-3 ATS in their 6 games this season and are 1-1 ATS in their 2 road games. On the other hand, the Suns are 1-5 ATS in 6 games played this season and 1-1 ATS in their 2 home games. The Spurs are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 meetings against the Suns and are 4-0 in their last 4 games against the Pacific Division. San Antonio is also 5-2 ATS in their last seven games versus Western Conference teams and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games against teams with a winning percentage lower than .400.
San Antonio is 8-3 ATS in their last 11 against the Suns. Phoenix could very well be without Devin Booker in this game. Even if Booker plays, he may not be 100% at all. The Spurs should be brimming with confidence after winning back to back close games. Prediction: Spurs -7.5
The total has gone over in 5 out of the last 6 games for the Spurs and the total has also gone over in eight out of San Antonio’s last 10 road games. The over is also 7-2 in the Suns’ last nine games and the over is also 4-1 in the Suns’ last five games at home. Head to head though, the under is 10-5 in their last 15 meetings but the over is 4-2 in the last six home games for the Suns versus the Spurs.
If we look at the odds, this one has the over written all over it. The Spurs may be winning but they are one of the worst in opponents’ field goal percentage and points allowed per game. As for Phoenix, they rank only 25th in the league in points scored per game and they will be missing their leading scorer Devin Booker. I’m not sure if the Suns can keep pace with San Antonio’s scoring without Devin Booker. Prediction: Under 222
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