NBA Betting May 25, 2021 – Los Angeles Lakers at Phoenix Suns
The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are in a heap of trouble, but that can all change with a win over the upstart Phoenix Suns on Tuesday in Game 2 of their Western Conference first round playoff series. The Suns won a playoff game for the first time in 11 years with their 99-90 payout triumph on Sunday and the young squad wasn’t intimidated by the Lakers or the postseason stage. The games won’t all be that easy, though, and we’ll get a better idea of the Suns chances on Tuesday. Bookmaker.eu offers a generous welcome bonus (max bonus $1600).
Los Angeles Lakers at Phoenix Suns
Date and Time: Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 10 p.m. ET
Location: Phoenix Suns Arena, Phoenix, AZ
Opening NBA Odds: Lakers -1.5, O/U 208
Lakers at Suns TV Coverage: TNT
Odds Analysis
Oddsmakers have a different view of Game 2 positioning the visitors as a 1.5-point favorite on the opening line. The Lakers were catching 2.5-points in Game 1 and failed to cover putting them at 1-5 ATS in their last five games. They beat Golden State 103-100 in the play-in laying 6-points. Just in case you were wondering the Lakers lost their playoff opener to Portland last season then won the next four to claim the series, so don’t write their obituary just yet. And they closed the regular season with five straight wins then toppled the Dubs to claim the No. 7 seed. A week of rest in between the end of the regular season and Game 1 didn’t affect the Suns, who won for the fourth time in a row overall and improved to 3-1 SU and ATS against the Lakers this season.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are the defending champs and they have two seasoned veteran leaders so don’t expect them to go quietly. And don’t expect them to be flustered by the Game 1 loss. They will need their stars to play better, though. When the offense runs through Anthony Davis and LeBron James and they struggle to score the basketball points are hard to come by. That was the case in Game 1 with AD in particular having a rough time. AD was just 5 of 16 from the floor and had 13 points while LeBron was 6 of 13 with 18 points to go along with 10 assists and seven rebounds. Just a few weeks earlier, Davis dropped 42 on the Suns in a 123-110 LA victory.
Defensively the Lakers did a good job holding the Suns under 100 points. Phoenix had scored at least 110 points in each of its last six regular season games and finished the campaign as the seventh-highest scoring team averaging 115.3 points. Devin Booker scored 34 points and will be a stronger focus for the Lakers moving forward. “He’s a scoring machine, puts a lot of pressure on our defense to cover him in a lot of ways. We didn’t do a good enough job but if we hold this team to 99 points in Game 2 I feel good about our chances,” Frank Vogel said.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns passed the first test getting their first playoff win in their first playoff appearance since 2010. With several of their key contributors making their postseason debut, the Suns didn’t waver in the confidence department. Booker and DeAndre Ayton came up large in their playoff debuts. Booker scored 34 points and Ayton had 21 points and 16 rebounds. While Booker was money from the outside, Ayton was chewing up LA’s interior hitting 10 of 11 shots while grabbing eight offensive rebounds.
They weren’t known as a strong defensive team during the season but the Suns came up big on that end of the court Sunday. They held the Lakers to 27 percent shooting from distance while outrebounding LA 47-33 with 16 of those boards coming on the offensive glass. The Suns could be impacted by a shoulder injury to Chris Paul, who was the veteran presence the team needed this season. He was clearly favoring his injury when he returned to the floor and wasn’t as aggressive. He vowed that he’ll be ready for Game 2, however.
Bet Lakers at Suns at BookMaker.eu
The Lakers know all too well that one game doesn’t make a series and the job of closing out the defending champs becomes tougher now that LeBron has a “feel-out game” under his belt. The Lakers essentially beat themselves with poor shooting and AD took the blame saying there’s no way they win a game let alone a series the way he played in Game 1. LA is still finding its way after playing without AD and LeBron over the second half of the season. It’s just a matter of time when they start feeling it and I expect Davis will be extra motivated by his lackluster Game 1 performance.
NBA Score Prediction: Lakers 115, Suns 108
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