NBA Betting Odds

On Saturday night, May 29th, the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers squared off in Game 6 of their series. Going into Game 6, the basketball betting favorite, Lakers held a 3-2 series lead. The Phoenix Suns had the advantage of playing at home on their side, but it ultimately made no difference as they lost 111-103, sending the Lakers to the NBA Finals for the 2nd year in a row.

Despite the fact that the Suns were in a must-win situation, they came out flat, getting out-scored 91-74 through the first three quarters. However, they came back in a hurry in the 4th quarter, but they were unable to overcome their slow start. Kobe Bryant was especially effective for the Lakers, putting up 37 points. Lamar Odom was also great off the bench, grabbing 12 rebounds. Amare Stoudemire stepped up for Phoenix, scoring 27 points, and Steve Nash chipped in 21 points, but it simply was not enough.

In Game 5, the Suns lost a heart-breaker on a last second shot by Ron Artest, and it looked like there was a lot of carry over from that in Game 6. The Suns should have come out fiery and ready to play; instead, they were sluggish from the opening tip. They simply did not have an answer for Kobe Bryant, and the Lakers proved that they were the better, deeper team. If Phoenix could have played the whole game like they did in the 4th quarter, it could have been a different story.

Game 5 between the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers looked like a competitive game by the end of the first quarter, but it turned into a blowout victory for the Suns as they took a 3-2 lead in the first round best –of-seven series against the Trailblazers with a 107-88 win. The Phoenix Suns were the pre-match NBA odds favorite.

Amare Stoudemire had 19 points for the Suns and Steve Nash had 14 points and 10 assist, but this game belonged to the Phoenix Suns bench who they can thank for this victory. The Suns had great help off of the bench as Channing Frye picked a good time to have one of his best games ever as a Phoenix Sun, he scored 20 points off of the bench against his former team. Dudley also had a superb game off of the bench, scoring 19 points.

The Blazers had a quick start in the game by going up early 23-9 in the first quarter, Andre miller racking up 10 points along the way. By the time the first quarter was over though they only had a one point lead 28-27. It remained a game into the third quarter where the Blazers only trailed 65-58 at one point. Suddenly though, Phoenix outscored Portland 17-7 and held a 82-65 commanding lead as they routed the Blazers the rest of the way.

In order for the Blazers to win game 6 on Thursday and keep this series alive, they are going to have to slow the game down a bit. In game 5, the Trailblazers played right into the hands of the Suns hands as they let the Suns play the quick temp game that they prefer to play. Game 6 is Thursday night in Portland.