NBA Betting: Suns Not Hot at Home

The Phoenix Suns home woes have been gigantic as they get ready to host the Golden State Warriors on Friday night and this does not factor in well for NBA betting aficionados , unless of course you happen to be betting the opposing team.

The Suns are 26-21 on the year, but they're one of the rare NBA teams where their record is similar at home (13-10) and away (13-11). Phoenix has also been awful from a betting perspective at home, where their 7-16 ATS mark is one of the worst in the league.

All that needs to change in a hurry on Friday night when the Warriors (16-34) come to town for the second game of a back-to-back set.  

This is the 10:30 pm ET telecast on ESPN and comes right after Denver at Washington. Bet on this game with Sportsbook.com's exclusive Reduced Juice Fridays.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what Phoenix' problem has been at the US Airways Center. After all, they were at least close to .500 ATS last year at 19-21-1.

This year has been a different story with recent straight-up home losses to Chicago, San Antonio and Minnesota. The Suns were nine-point chalk against the Bulls and eight-point favorites versus the Timberwolves.

There was some good news last Monday night when the Suns blew out Sacramento at home 129-81, but they followed it up with a 12-point road loss at Golden State on Wednesday. Note that the home team is 26-7 ATS in this series.

Besides inconsistency and playing poorly against bad teams, the Suns are also lacking on the defensive end. A lot of that has to do with an aging point guard (Steve Nash), small forward (Grant Hill), and center (Shaq) who have all seen their better days and aren't physically up to playing good defense for all 82 regular season games.

Fortunately for Friday, defense is a word rarely spoken by Golden State. The Warriors got 30 points from Stephen Jackson against the Suns on Wednesday night and Jamal Crawford and Kelenna Azubuike added 27 and 25 respectively. However, they have to score in bunches if they have any chance of winning with the NBA's worst defense.

And while Golden State may have the younger legs, Phoenix has the size advantage down low and they must go to Amare Stoudemire early and often against the undersized Jackson. Stoudemire only had eight shots in the last game which is totally unacceptable.

Golden State has been a mess on the road this year with a 5-22 straight-up record and 8-18 ATS. They also have a tendency to lose big on the road. As double-digit underdogs on the road they have lost nine times, and are just 2-7 ATS.

If Phoenix can get up early and get the home crowd into the game, they have a very good chance to avenge Wednesday's loss and do it comfortably.

Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter