Phoenix Suns vs Dallas Mavericks betting tips and predictions for Tuesday’s NBA Western Conference Playoff game on TNT. We are tied at 2-2 heading into Game 5 of a highly entertaining series between the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Phoenix Suns
The way that the Phoenix Suns have been playing on the road in this series, they’ll be really happy to go back home tonight after a 10-point loss in Game 4 over the weekend. Chris Paul had a disaster of a game with just 5 points and 7 assists, he fouled out in just 23 minutes of play.
To make matters worse, his family was involved in an incident in the stands during the game, so that was another distraction for CP3. Devin Booker came to play and carried the Suns offence with 35, however, the closest they got in the 2nd half was 4 points, but then the wheels fell off towards the end. Playing at home should do them well, they lead the NBA in field goal percentage at 48.5% when playing there and so far they’ve beaten the Mavs in both meetings there.
Dallas Mavericks
Dallas was lethal from the three-point line in Game 4, especially early in the game and they ended with 20 made from 44 attempts. Once again Luka Doncic didn’t have the best of offensive games, but he got others involved and that seems to be the formula that’s working for the Mavs right now.
Dorian Finney-Smith exploded for 24 points and 8 threes made, while Jalen Brunson added 18 points of his own. Now the Mavs face a tough challenge of winning at Phoenix, something they haven’t done since November 29th 2019. They will be encouraged by their recent ATS record though – in the last 9 outings they are 7-2 ATS and they’ve also beaten 15 of their last 20 Western Conference opponents.
Momentum is on Dallas’ side here, but you’d have to think that playing at home will make all the difference for the Suns and especially Chris Paul who will want to make amends for his bad performance over the weekend. I’m picking the Suns to get the job done, they’ve won both games at home by more than 6 points, which is the spread tonight, so let’s back them to cover.
Dallas Mavericks vs Phoenix Suns & Odds
So far through 4 games, we can see a direct link between the Suns winning and the Mavericks winning. When the Suns win they usually do it by playing a faster tempo and the games end up with a high point total. Dallas wins have been the opposite, the Mavs tend to rely way more on defence and over the last 2 games they’ve held the suns to just 94 and 101 points, something you don’t see happen often these days in the NBA.
I’m actually surprised the projected total has been set at a relatively low 213 points, the first 2 games played in Phoenix ended with 235 and 238 points and the final regular season game played in Phoenix ended with 216 points. The Suns will once again try to speed things up, they are currently 3rd in the Playoffs when it comes to points per game averaging 111.3 while having the most efficient field goal percentage at almost 52%.
Dallas is only 11th in points per game, but they have been lethal from three-point land making 15.9 shots per game which is the highest among the 16 Playoff teams. I think we are in for another high scoring game here, so let’s back the points.
