Previewing Tuesday’s Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Clippers sports betting odds and lines, with NBA betting picks, tips and best bets.
The Phoenix Suns (11-15) and Los Angeles Clippers (20-8) tangle at Staples Center at 10:30 p.m. ET Tuesday. We analyze the Suns-Clippers odds and lines, with NBA betting advice and tips around the matchup.
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Suns at Clippers: Key injuries
Suns: SG Tyler Johnson (illness) and PG Devin Booker (forearm) are each listed as questionable. C DeAndre Ayton (suspension) is eligible to return Tuesday after a 25-game suspension.
Clippers: PF Jeff Green (tailbone) is not expected to play, while PG Patrick Beverley (concussion) is a question mark. SG Lou Williams (calf) is also questionable.
Suns at Clippers: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips
NBA odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated at 10:40 a.m. ET.
The Clippers (-910) are heavily favored to win, but they’re not a great play. Risking over nine times the return is just hacky, even if you had this in a 10-game parlay. Plus, Ayton is a real wild card in his return for the Suns (+575).
The SUNS(+12.5, -105) are on a 4-1-1 ATS run across their past six games, and 7-3 ATS in the past 10 games overall. They’re playing on the second end of a back-to-back, but they’re 9-3 ATS in the past 12 games when working on no rest. While the Suns are 0-7 ATS in the past seven trips to L.A., and 2-7 ATS in the past nine meetings, Ayton’s return should spark something in the Suns. However, watch Booker’s status, especially. If he is unable to return, it negates the return of Ayton substantially.
PASS. There are just too many variables to bet the total (224.5) in this game. Will Ayton return with a vengeance, or will he be rusty? Booker’s status also makes things rather questionable in terms of the total. The Over is 5-0 in Phoenix’s past five on no rest, and 4-0 in L.A.’s past four following a straight-up loss. If there is a lean, it’s to the Over (-128). But good luck with that. Too risky.
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In postgame comments, both James Harden and Devin Booker downplayed a minor scuffle between them late in Saturday’s Rockets vs. Suns game.
Both Houston Rockets star James Harden and Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker downplayed a chippy sequence near the end of Saturday’s game where both guards received technical fouls.
With just under six minutes left and the Rockets leading by five, Booker grabbed Harden at or above his shoulders to prevent a potential layup on a fast break, which Harden appeared to take exception to.
After the foul was whistled, Harden extended his arms in an apparent bid to separate himself. With both players sprinting toward the basket, the momentum of that downhill impact sent Booker off the court. Booker then rushed back onto the court and got in Harden’s face to say something, at which point Harden lightly pushed him away. Booker then responded with a light shove of his own.
The players were subsequently separated by officials and teammates. Booker’s foul was reviewed, but the on-court officials ultimately decided that it was not worthy of a flagrant foul. Both players were given technical fouls for the play’s aftermath, though.
When asked postgame what made him upset, Harden said:
Nothing. Nothing.
The league’s 2018 Most Valuable Player (MVP) then walked away, ending the interview before any further questions could be asked.
According to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic, Booker also dismissed the idea of any lingering impact from the brief skirmish.
Just competing. If you guys don’t like that, you don’t like NBA basketball, for real.
Rankin also reported that he “heard those two hugged it out near the loading docks,” referring to the 30-year-old Harden and 23-year-old Booker.
Now in his fifth season, Booker is leading the Suns (10-12) with a scoring average of 25.5 points per game. He led all scorers for both teams with 35 in his team’s 115-109 loss to the Rockets (15-7) on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Harden had 34 in Houston’s win and continues to lead the NBA at 38.5 points per game. If that total holds, it would be the third-highest scoring season (on a per-game basis) in league history, and the best of any player in the last 56 seasons.
James Harden had an off shooting game, but Russell Westbrook and Ben McLemore made up for it with hot nights as the Rockets beat Phoenix.
Houston star James Harden had a relative off night Saturday versus Phoenix, but fellow guards Russell Westbrook and Ben McLemore more than made up for it with hot shooting as the host Rockets (15-7) defeated the Suns (10-12) to win for the fourth time in five games.
The four wins have come by an average margin of 18 points.
McLemore had a season-high 28 points and eight made three-pointers in Thursday’s statement win at Toronto, and he nearly matched it Saturday with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting (66.7%). That total included five more threes as Houston pulled away late to win, 115-109 (box score).
Unlike in Toronto, McLemore came off the bench Saturday in Houston, now that usual small forward starter Danuel House Jr. is again healthy. But the change in role had no impact on his performance. The Rockets fell behind 20-9 in the opening minutes, but they regained the lead shortly after McLemore entered and led for nearly all of the final three quarters.
Meanwhile, Westbrook bounced back from a 7-of-27 shooting night (25.9%) against the Raptors to score 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting (55.6%) versus Phoenix. He also had a team-high 14 rebounds and 11 assists, representing his third consecutive triple-double.
Russell Westbrook tonight: 24 Points 14 Rebounds 11 Assists 3 Steals 2 Blocks 11-18 FG (55.6%) 1-3 3PT (33.3%) 3-4 FT (75%) 60.7 TS% 4 TOV 37 MIN
His best game since October. Was under control all night, and easily could've had 17 assists if his teammates hit some easy shots. pic.twitter.com/v5oalRUY2B
Harden led the Rockets with 34 points, though he did so on an uncharacteristically cold 8-of-27 night (29.6%) from the field.
The NBA’s leading scorer made them count, though, as Harden scored 17 consecutive points for the Rockets in the fourth quarter after Phoenix had briefly tied the game at 85 with 9:02 left. That allowed Houston to break the game open and coast to the team’s fourth win in five games.
James Harden on the Rockets' ability to win despite him struggling: "That's how deep we are. We have a really good team with guys that can make plays and knock down shots." pic.twitter.com/tT2gSic12S
James Harden on Russell Westbrook: "He'll continue to get better. Think about it – this is his first time away from Oklahoma City so he's still trying to get adjusted. You know, it's not going to take 20-25 games. It may take the course of a whole year." pic.twitter.com/NRByx5I95k
Clint Capela had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets in 27 minutes, and no one else was in double figures. Backup center Tyson Chandler missed the game due to illness.
The Suns were led by 35 points from guard Devin Booker, who made 11 of his 19 shots in Saturday’s game at Toyota Center.
The Rockets have an off day Sunday before finishing up this two-game homestand Monday against the Sacramento Kings (8-13).
LeBron James and Anthony Davis both had double-doubles as they held off the Phoenix Suns for a win on Tuesday night.
Anthony Davis had 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, LeBron James had 19 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds, while Kyle Kuzma had 23 points off the bench as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns 123-115 on Tuesday night.
The Suns had three players score 20 points or more (Aron Baynes, Ricky Rubio, Devin Booker) but that wasn’t enough as Kuzma and Green hit big shots from the outside to support their stars.
Davis didn’t appear to be bothered too much by the shoulder issue as he totaled 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in the first half while the Lakers nursed a 60-58 lead at halftime.
Even though Rondo was back in the lineup, LeBron James didn’t look like he would slow down his role as distributor with nine assists to go with eight points in the first half. Rondo played 14 minutes and finished with five points, seven assists and six rebounds in his debut.
The Suns stayed in the game in large part thanks to the 3-point shot, scoring 58 points on what had been the best defense in the league. They shot 8-16 from the 3-point line in the first half with their role players mostly doing the job as Aron Baynes, Ricky Rubio and Frank Kaminsky each hit multiple 3-pointers in the first half. However, they cooled off considerably in the second half.
Kuzma provided a big spark for the Lakers off the bench, having his first breakout game of the season in Phoenix. He had 13 first half points including a personal 6-0 run to close the first quarter to cut the Suns lead from nine to just three in 57.2 seconds of game time. He also closed out the game two two big 3-pointers in the final minutes.
A huge 3-pointer by Kuzma with 2:10 left pushed the Lakers lead to 117-113, giving the Lakers the opportunity to play from ahead in the last two minutes. And then Kuzma hit another with 1:40 left to put the Lakers up by seven points.
The Lakers head back to L.A. as they will face a short-handed Golden State Warriors crew on Wednesday night at Staples Center.
Following Tuesday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Los Angeles Lakers look for a quality road win on Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns.
The Los Angeles Lakers were finally reminded what it feels like to lose on Sunday night and the right shoulder of Anthony Davis started to bother him a little bit more, but life in the Western Conference often means getting to leave a loss behind to face a challenge of even greater difficulty. Tuesday night, the Lakers will get that chance as they visit a surprisingly strong Phoenix Suns squad.
After nine games, the Suns have a 6-3 record and are in 6th place in the Western Conference. And they’ve done with two-way excellence that hasn’t been found from most teams in the league through the first three weeks of the season. According to Cleaning The Glass, which eliminates garbage time, the Suns have the 8th ranked defense and the 4th ranked offense in the league so far.
The biggest change of all started with the hiring of head coach Monty Williams, but the Suns front office is also reaping the benefits of offseason moves like their trade for center Aron Baynes and signing free agent point guard Ricky Rubio. Kelly Oubre Jr., who they traded for last season from the Wizards, is having an excellent start to his season as well. The added help has led to Devin Booker’s best all-around start as a pro, as he looks primed for his first All-Star berth.
Off the bench, Frank Kaminsky, Tyler Johnson and Mikal Bridges all create plenty of problems for their opponents. To avoid a result like Sunday, the Lakers bench must play better than they did against Toronto against a strong Suns second unit.
Tuesday night won’t be easy for the Lakers and Anthony Davis may still be dealing with some pain in his shoulder. But sometimes that dose of reality is what you need to see a contender show you who they are.
Each week, HoopsHype ranks the Top 10 candidates for this season’s Most Valuable Player award. Find out who made this week’s rankings!
Each week, HoopsHype’s staff ranks the Top 10 candidates for this season’s Most Valuable Player award. This list highlights stars who have entered the 2019-20 MVP discussion thanks to their impressive play.
Which stars have stood out thus far? Who can sustain this production as the sample size increases? Here are our latest MVP rankings:
Drummond has been dominant through the first 10 games of the season. It’s impressive when a player has a single 20-point, 20-rebound performance, but the 26-year-old is nearly averaging that. He’s scored 20 or more points in six games, and he’s grabbed 20 or more rebounds in five games. He’s also doing a good job of finding open teammates, as he’s averaging 5.4 assists in November (and he has 25 assists in his last four games). Drummond is posting video-game numbers and shows no sign of slowing down. The Pistons are getting Blake Griffin back from injury, which should only help them as they look to improve their record (4-6) and climb up the Eastern Conference standings.
Towns missed two games due to his suspension for fighting Joel Embiid, but he’s been a beast in the seven contests in which he’s played. He’s posting career-highs across the board and he’s been able to score the ball with ease this season, inside and out. In fact, Towns has more than doubled his three-point attempts (from 4.6 last year to 9.3 this year), yet his three-point percentage has stayed at 40.0 percent. His 3.7 threes per game is fourth in the NBA behind only James Harden (4.3), Damian Lillard (4.0) and Kemba Walker (3.8). Minnesota is currently 5-4, which is ninth-best in the Western Conference and just two games out of first place.
HoopsHype’s Frank Urbina recently wrote a great article breaking down Booker’s impressive start to the season and what he’s doing differently this year. The 23-year-old is playing the most efficient basketball of his career, finishing in the paint better than ever and locking down opponents on the defensive end. Newcomers Aron Baynes and Ricky Rubio have made a huge difference for Booker too. The Suns are the NBA’s biggest surprise thus far, sitting at 6-3 with the league’s third-best offense (scoring 109.1 points per 100 possessions) and ninth-best defense (allowing 101.1 points per 100 possessions). There’s no question that Booker is a huge reason for their early success. The red-hot Suns will face off against the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in a game that will feature three players from this list.
Harden is once again leading the league in scoring. The main issue for Harden (and the reason he isn’t higher on this list) has been his shooting percentages. He’s currently shooting an ugly 39.4 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from three-point range – both of which are career-lows. It’s taking him 24.2 field goal attempts (and 14.4 three-point attempts) per game to get to his 37.1 scoring average. Those numbers must drastically improve if he wants to compete for this year’s MVP award. There’s always an adjustment period when a team is integrating a new star and that’s what Harden and the Rockets are doing with Russell Westbrook. Still, Houston is 6-3, which is tied for the third-best record in the Western Conference.
There’s a reason LeBron James badly wanted to team up with this guy. Davis is once again filling the stat sheet and making his presence felt all over the court, helping the Lakers win seven of their first nine games. He gives opposing head coaches nightmares, as he’s been the best rim protector in the league and he’s scoring at will. Davis is currently ranked first in Defensive Win Shares (0.9) and third in Win Shares (1.7, tied with James). He’s new to the Lakers and still getting acclimated, but you’d never know it based on his early play. It remains to be seen if voters will dock points from James and/or Davis because they’re on the same team. Opposing teams certainly hate that these two stars teamed up, as they’ve struggled to slow them down thus far.
Lillard is having the best season of his career, but he can only do so much for the Blazers. He’s getting little help from his supporting cast, which is why the Blazers are 4-6 and in 10th place in the Western Conference despite Lillard playing out of his mind. That was on display in Portland’s recent loss to the Brooklyn Nets, when Lillard had 60 points (including 7 threes), 5 assists and 4 rebounds while shooting 57.6 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from deep, but the Nets won 119-115. Injuries have been an issue for the Blazers, but they also have a new-look roster after losing Al-Farouq Aminu, Maurice Harkless, Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard, Enes Kanter and Seth Curry among others. Still, Lillard is averaging the second-most points in the league while also ranking first in Win Shares (2.4) and second in Value Over Replacement Player (1.1).
Leonard’s decision to sit out the nationally televised showdown against the Milwaukee Bucks relaunched the load-management debate. It seems that Leonard will continue to sit out during back-to-backs to ensure that he’s 100 percent for the playoffs. Leonard credits load management for his monster 2019 postseason with the Toronto Raptors and while this is probably a smart move for the Clippers, it likely means Leonard won’t have a shot at winning this year’s MVP award. Voters seem to disqualify players who rest, regardless of how productive they are when they play. HoopsHype looked at the last 15 MVP winners and they missed an average of 3.93 games in their MVP season (with no player missing more than 10 games). Leonard missed 22 games last season and he’s on pace to miss 18 contests this year, which would seemingly remove him from the MVP discussion (like last year). Still, Leonard is playing well and the Clippers are 6-3, which is tied for the third-best record in the West. If the Clippers stop resting Leonard – or the NBA decides that he’s healthy and must play – perhaps he becomes a serious candidate.
Doncic is the only player in the league who currently ranks Top 11 in points per game (sixth), assists per game (second) and rebounds per game (11th). As if Luka’s counting stats weren’t impressive enough, his advanced stats jump off the page as well: Doncic ranks third in Value Over Replacement Player (1.0), fourth in Box Plus/Minus (10.3) and fifth in Win Shares (1.6). The 20-year-old is the youngest player in NBA history to record 10 or more triple-doubles, passing LeBron James and Magic Johnson. He also became the second player with at least three 20-point triple-doubles in the first six games of a season, joining Oscar Robertson. Doncic must continue to limit his turnovers (4.9 per game) and improve his three-point percentage (32.1 percent on 8.7 attempts per game). But that feels like nitpicking when the kid is nearly averaging a triple-double and winning games for the Mavericks, who are 6-3 (which is tied for the third-best record in the West).
Antetokounmpo had an MVP performance in the Bucks’ win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday. After struggling in the first half, Antetokounmpo ripped his jersey and kicked a hole in a Thunder sign while walking back to the locker room at halftime. In the second half, MVP Giannis showed up and he finished the game with 35 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 threes, 1 block and 1 steal while shooting an efficient 68.4 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three-point range. Antetokounmpo has now scored 30 or more points in five-straight games. The Bucks are 7-3, which puts them in third place in the Eastern Conference and just one game back from the top-seeded Boston Celtics. Antetokounmpo currently leads all players in Value Over Replacement Player (1.3), Box Plus/Minus (13.9) and Win Shares Per 48 Minutes (.325).
As Tommy Beer of Forbes recently pointed out, no player in NBA history has ever averaged more than 7.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists in their age-35 season. Well, James is currently posting those marks with ease (24.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 11.0 assists). When all is said and done, one could make the argument that James was the best teenager in NBA history (he holds the NBA record for most career points, rebounds and assists before turning 20 years old) and the best mid-30s player in NBA history (if he keeps this up). LeBron’s longevity is remarkable; in the load-management era, he’s playing 35.1 minutes per game, which is the most of any Laker and 12th-most in the league. James is currently No. 1 on this list because his individual production has been impressive and it’s translated into team success, as the Lakers currently have the NBA’s second-best record at 7-2. One area where James must improve is his three-point shooting; he’s attempting 5.2 threes per game, but he’s making just 31.9 percent thus far.
