As usual, the NBA’s Western Conference is a meat grinder. Great teams are chewed up and spit out by their superiors. The Warriors and Suns are both experiencing that this season, hovering around .500 despite their respective depth and top-end star talent. It’s a rough life in the West, and now these two playoff hopefuls will look to pummel one another on Thursday night.
Golden State is a -2.5 road favorite on the DraftKings Sportsbook. A Suns upset is priced at +110, and the game’s total is set at 230.5 points. Let’s dig into the preview, prediction, and best pick for this Warriors-Suns matchup.
Warriors vs. Suns preview, prediction
A lot is going wrong for these Golden State Warriors. They’re struggling to maintain consistency in their starting lineup, both due to injuries and ineffectiveness. They’re not as tall or as athletic as most teams they play. One player who was supposed to help them with this problem, Jonathan Kuminga, has picked up a stretch of DNP-CDs. The one positive for the Warriors? Stephen Curry.
Steps one, two, and three for the Suns are all stopping Curry. Luckily, they have an elite perimeter defender in Dillon Brooks and a sound defensive infrastructure. Devin Booker is back on the floor and whipping the Suns offense back into shape. Perhaps most importantly for this matchup, Mark Williams is healthy and physically dominating once again. If he’s playing his A-game, the Warriors have nothing to counter him with.
Golden State has been playing below its standard all season, while Phoenix has exceeded expectations thus far. Who takes the cake, the talented underachievers or the scrappy overachievers?
Warriors vs. Suns pick, best bet
If you’re not paying close attention to the Warriors, good for you. They have a habit of losing very winnable games. And the Suns are no trap game — they’re a legitimately good squad. I love the value of Phoenix as a home underdog to upset the Dubs.
