Interesting game coming up Thursday night in the valley of the sun. The leagues top team, the Suns, host the rising Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs have kind of been quiet this season. They have went about their business with some injuries and Bron just doing his thing quietly. They now find themself at the top of the East and at this point primed to stretch that lead. Surely they will be up for a game on national TV at Phoenix.
Its my feeling a lot of times that opponents(being the players..not coaches) love playing against the Suns. If it becomes a Phoenix style game it is so much fun to be a part of. Players love that style and its a nice little stat padding night and not as much bumping and grinding in the halfcourt helps keep the nicks and bruises to a minimum. The only players who may not like it are the fat/old guys(um..Shaquille
).
The current total at Pinnacle is 207...with the stonger juice coming in on the over(-111/+101). It opened up at 207.5, the there has been a small move towards the under since open.
Lets take a look at the past 4 matchups involving these two teams(total points scored...those in bold were at Phoenix):
219
221
221
223
We used the last four meetings for this purpose. It illustrates the time frame of D'Antoni's coaching tenure and the current Phoenix system. The scores before that are not relevant whatsoever to this situation.
Now, the Cavaliers are not a team that plays many games over 200. Their style, with the big men and a nice solid defense keeps most of their totals much lower. I looked game by game and was looking for matchups against teams that come somewhat similar to Phoenix's pace. Well, the Cavs really haven;t played any teams like that sans the Wizards. One game scored 191 and the other(note on road) 224 in those contests. There isn't any games against the likes of Seattle, Denver, Golden St and Phoenix to compare to. Now, the trends in this series plus the last Washington game give me a small foundation to work with.
Lets flip across to the run and gun Suns. Their totals are falling back to earth for a few reasons. One, the teams they have played have not been putting the ball in the bucket. This has resulted in a boatload of unders as of late. The key to remember here is that Phoenix is still hitting triple digits themselves each game. My cause for concern would be if they were not.
A combined 12 game winning streak enters this game tonight. Both teams are hot, confident and up for a huge challenge on national TV. Lets look at each attack.
Suns on offense:
They will do what they always do...push the ball and play unselfish. The home team usually dictates tempo and they should right out of the gate here. The tempo will tire Cleveland bigs early and thta should open up the lane a bit even in halfcourt sets. Clevelands bigs are also suspectible to the pick and roll.
Cleveland on offense:
A very efficent 108 points against a good defense in Sacremento the other night certainly needs to be established again. No one can guard James. The Suns will collapse every time he goes to lane. That leaves the spot up guys. You know Bron will be having fun out there in the open court making spectacular plays. Almost like a breath of fresh air for the Cavaliers.
Prediction:
Phoenix 113
Cleveland 105
2 Units Over 207 -111
GL
Its my feeling a lot of times that opponents(being the players..not coaches) love playing against the Suns. If it becomes a Phoenix style game it is so much fun to be a part of. Players love that style and its a nice little stat padding night and not as much bumping and grinding in the halfcourt helps keep the nicks and bruises to a minimum. The only players who may not like it are the fat/old guys(um..Shaquille
).The current total at Pinnacle is 207...with the stonger juice coming in on the over(-111/+101). It opened up at 207.5, the there has been a small move towards the under since open.
Lets take a look at the past 4 matchups involving these two teams(total points scored...those in bold were at Phoenix):
219
221
221
223
We used the last four meetings for this purpose. It illustrates the time frame of D'Antoni's coaching tenure and the current Phoenix system. The scores before that are not relevant whatsoever to this situation.
Now, the Cavaliers are not a team that plays many games over 200. Their style, with the big men and a nice solid defense keeps most of their totals much lower. I looked game by game and was looking for matchups against teams that come somewhat similar to Phoenix's pace. Well, the Cavs really haven;t played any teams like that sans the Wizards. One game scored 191 and the other(note on road) 224 in those contests. There isn't any games against the likes of Seattle, Denver, Golden St and Phoenix to compare to. Now, the trends in this series plus the last Washington game give me a small foundation to work with.
Lets flip across to the run and gun Suns. Their totals are falling back to earth for a few reasons. One, the teams they have played have not been putting the ball in the bucket. This has resulted in a boatload of unders as of late. The key to remember here is that Phoenix is still hitting triple digits themselves each game. My cause for concern would be if they were not.
A combined 12 game winning streak enters this game tonight. Both teams are hot, confident and up for a huge challenge on national TV. Lets look at each attack.
Suns on offense:
They will do what they always do...push the ball and play unselfish. The home team usually dictates tempo and they should right out of the gate here. The tempo will tire Cleveland bigs early and thta should open up the lane a bit even in halfcourt sets. Clevelands bigs are also suspectible to the pick and roll.
Cleveland on offense:
A very efficent 108 points against a good defense in Sacremento the other night certainly needs to be established again. No one can guard James. The Suns will collapse every time he goes to lane. That leaves the spot up guys. You know Bron will be having fun out there in the open court making spectacular plays. Almost like a breath of fresh air for the Cavaliers.
Prediction:
Phoenix 113
Cleveland 105
2 Units Over 207 -111
GL
