Phoenix Suns vs New Orleans Pelicans betting tips and predictions for Tuesday’s NBA Western Conference Playoff game on TNT. It’s a crucial Game 5 between the West champions Phoenix Suns and the #8 seed New Orleans Pelicans as they meet with the series tied at 2-2. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Phoenix Suns
Like it or not Phoenix Suns fans, it is time to sound off the alarms. Losing by 15 points to a team that won 30 games less than what you did during the regular season is very disturbing to say the least.
No Devin Booker is starting to really hurt the Suns here and if they lose Game 5 they could be in big trouble. Especially if Chris Paul plays like he did in Game 4 where he scored just 4 points on 2-for-8 shooting from the field.
He did have 11 dimes on the night, but his age is starting to show here as he is unable to sustain his level of greatness in back-to-back games. The two centers Deandre Ayton and JaVale McGee impressed yet again with 23 and 14 points, but if the Suns want to win here it’s going to take a lot more than that to beat this young and energized Pelicans squad.
New Orleans Pelicans
Brandon Ingram is maturing right in front of our eyes. He continues to destroy the Suns averaging over 30 points in this series and Phoenix simply has no answer for him on defence. Few players in the NBA are able to deal with his length and agility, looks like the Suns don’t have any of those on their roster.
He is also getting solid help from C.J. McCollum who had 18, but also Jonas Valanciunas who finally put together a solid game with 26 points and 15 rebounds. The Pelicans are now in a position very few people saw them being before the series started, this team is very young and energetic. Let’s see how far that gets them in Game 5 on the road. The stats aren’t exactly on their side as they’ve gone just 5-10 SU/ATS in the last 15 meetings.
The Suns are in a tough spot here, but now is the time for them to show why they are the Western Conference champs. They’ve played without Booker before and it wasn’t an issue, having home court advantage should be enough to compensate for his absence here. I think they get the job done at home in Game 5. Back Phoenix to cover.
Phoenix Suns vs New Orleans Pelicans Predictions & Odds
With the over cashing in the last 3 games of this series, I am a bit surprised the total has been set at a relatively low by today’s standards 215.5 points for Game 5. But then again if we want Phoenix to win here, they will have to get it together on defence just like they did in Game 1 when they held the Pelicans to just 99 points. The total has gone under in 5 of the Suns last 6 home games. For the Pelicans the under has been a steady bet in their last 8 of 11 road games.
This applies to their entire regular season as they finished it with a 16-28 record on the O/U away from home. If we analyze just head-to-head meetings we can notice the last 4 of 5 meetings in Phoenix end under the total. Phoenix’s best chance of winning here is if they get stopped, if they decide to run with the much younger Pelicans they could be in trouble. Because of that, I’m expecting Chris Paul to take matters into his own hands, slow down the tempo and make every possession count. Let’s go with the under once again.
