Portland Trailblazers at Phoenix Suns Betting Odds


Opening Betting Lines: Blazers +6 / Suns -6 O/U 202

Time: 10:30 PM EST Monday April 26, 2010 on TNT

This best of 7 series is tied at 2 games apiece.

Tonight an important Game 5 in a 1st round Western Conference playoff series the Phoenix Suns host the Portland Trailblazers.

This season the Suns were 32-9 at home and 47-34-1 ATS and the Blazers were 24-17 on the road and 45-35-2 ATS.

The Blazers tied this series with a 96-87 win on Saturday.

Brandon Roy has surprisingly come back to play in this series even though Jared Bayless will get the start again for the Blazers.

Portland won on Saturday with defense, as if they make it a low scoring game they should win, but if the Suns can get out and run-and-gun they should win. In Game 4 the Suns only scored 87 points and they only had 4 fast break points.

The Blazers had 12 more points off the fast break in Game 4 (16 to 4) and if that happens again tonight it is likely Portland will have a chance to close out this series at home.

Steve Nash has the responsibility to get the Suns out on the break and forcing this into an up-tempo game. Andre Miller slowed him down in Game 4 and if he does that again tonight the Blazers will be in good shape.

The Suns were one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league this season and they need to hit the long ball to be successful. In Game 4 they only shot 26.1% from beyond the 3-point arc. Jason Richardson only hit on 2/8 of his 3-pointers and Steve Nash was only 1/3. Richardson is the high scorer for the Suns in the series (25 ppg), but in Game 4 he only scored 15 points on 6/16 shooting.

The Suns have to play better defense on LeMarcus Aldridge, as in Game 4 he blew up for 31 points and he grabbed 11 boards.

Amare Stoudamire had a solid Game 4 going for 26 points, but he needs help tonight from Richardson and Nash, who both scored 15 points in the loss.

The Suns have to hit the boards in this game, as they were out-rebounded by 6 in Game 4 and were out-rebounded on the offensive glass by 7.

Betting Trends

Portland is 16-7-1 ATS in their last 24 road games, 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog of 5.0-10.5, and have an Over record of 16-7 in their last 23 road games.

The Underdog is 4-1-1 ATS in the last 6 games between these 2 teams.

Our Selection : Both games in Phoenix went over the posted total and we see no reason why that shouldn't happen again tonight. Take over 202 points at Sportsbetting.com.


Future Betting Odds

NBA Handicapping

Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat Odds 6-12
The Mavs are up 3-2 in this series heading to South Beach and for the Heat to force Game 7 they will have to play better in the 4th quarter, especially LeBron James. 5Dimes has the hometown Heat as 5-point favorites in Game 6 with a total of 187.

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