The Phoenix Suns will see the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves in a game that will showcase a part of the NBA’s future. For the Wolves, the future is now, but the Suns will have to wait (and work for it) for another few years. Still, there’ll be no shortage of scoring in a high-paced game, and the Suns have managed to pull a few surprises already, so nothing comes free and Minny stars will have to earn it.
Timberwolves at Suns
Spread: Minnesota -8 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: o/u 225 points (-110)
The Wolves no match for the champions yet
The Minnesota Timberwolves had a nice five-game win streak going, best in eight years. Then the Warriors popped up on the calendar, and they can now start over. It’s simple really. When Golden State plays their best game, very few teams can match it, and only on chosen night. Wednesday night was not such night for the Wolves, but frankly, the Wolves showed that they aren’t in the selected group either, despite a positive start to this season.
They were grounded by a 101-125 loss in which they managed to stay attached in the first half, but not longer. It’s not a way to put it nicely, but an actual game report – they were neutralized. The Warriors exposed all of their flaws and limited things they do good. That’s what a champions’ team can do to a young team — scratch that, any team. The Wolves connected on just 41.8 percent of their field goal attempts and hit only 5 treys for the game. No bench player stepped up. Sounds a lot like last year. So what about the big additions. Teague was team worst -20 on the plus/minus, which is not too surprising. Butler didn’t play. Oh wait, he did play, but was largely a non-factor, scoring 11 spread out points on 12 shots. The frontcourt guys can escape with positive marks, especially KAT, who had a decent 16-points, 12-boards double-double. Gibson’s contribution was on the defensive side, and he chimed in with 14 points, which is a good night for his limited touches, and Wiggins led the team with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting. They didn’t do much good defensively, except figuring out the 1-4 pick and pop game, mostly due to Gibson’s lateral quickness, but also Thibs’ defensive schemes. The Warriors shot 56.5 percent from the field, and didn’t even have to play their key guys more than 30 minutes despite playing without injured Durant.
The Wolves continue to play on the road with a trip to Utah after the Suns game, and they return home to play the Spurs. They have no reported injury issues.
Place: Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
Date/Time: Saturday, November 11th, 2017. 9:00 PM ET
TV Coverage: FSN+, Fox Sports Arizona
The Suns lose yet another, 115-126 to Miami Heat
Let’s start with the main news – the Phoenix Suns dumped off Eric Bledsoe for a first round pick, a second-round pick and Earl Monroe, who’ll be waived soon as his contract expires at the end of the season. As the side-news, the NBA season 2017/18. It’s the who-cares about this season that highlighted the recent four-game losing streak that had it’s last episode on Wednesday when Miami Heat beat the Suns at their own arena, 115-126.
It wasn’t close, but the Suns entertained the scarce crowd. Miami shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, jumping out to a 10-2 lead less than three minutes in and leading by as many as 13. The Suns got back into the game with a 32-point third quarter and pulled within 92-86 before Miami went more in front. Devin Booker had nine of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter and cut a 16-point deficit to six at 112-106 on a 17-foot jumper with 2:53 left. But Miami hit a three and the time ran out for any new comeback attempt. Both teams shot really well from outside, as there was not enough true contests on these attempts. The Suns ended up shooting 41.4 percent from the deep, but had issues closer to the rim with Len battling foul trouble and turnovers and the lanky forwards suffering against motivated Whiteside. The Suns were outrebounded 34-53 in the game.
Chandler was held out of the previous game as he was experiencing soreness in his back and is questionable tonight against the Magic. This home back-to-back will also be the third time the Suns play on consecutive nights in the last two weeks.
Minnesota Timberwolves at Phoenix Suns Game Trends & Prediction
The Wolves didn’t come close to covering in Oakland, losing backers’ wagers for the first time in six games. They had a slow start to the season, so they are just 5-5-1 for now. They seem to be streaky, and the points margin of -2.5 isn’t encouraging going forward. The total points followed the same scheme. The last four games ended in four unders. Prior to that – five consecutive overs. The outcome mostly comes to their defense, but the last one was on their offense. This season, the Wolves are 6-4 against the over/under overall, and 4-2 away from the Target Center.
Not counting Friday, the Suns dropped four straight SU and ATS, two in a row at home. They’ve been streaky as well, with a good series of results being sandwiched between two lousy ones. Overall, they are 5-7 ATS, and only 2-4 at home. They play for a point more, so it’s not surprising that they are being able to overcome bookies’ expectations when it comes to total points for a game. Phoenix are 7-5 on the O/U so far, with a better portion of overs coming lately.
Admi-Rank: Suffering a blowout to Durant-less Warriors can’t help your rating, but it might just be a bump of the road for these Wolves, as they are undoubtedly few tiers up on the lowly Suns.
This games shouldn’t be close, but it will only happen if the T-Wolves put up their strong effort and don’t give much of a hope to the largely inexperienced, rebuilding team from Phoenix. The Suns will probably have to stick Chriss or Bender on Towns, as he plays too much outside for either Chandler’s or Len’s comfort, and he’ll probably feast on either young forward. On the other side, the Wolves have their best perimeter defender matching up with the Suns primary threat, so even if Butler manages to throw Booker just slightly off the usual production, the Wolves would probably cruise to win.
The bookmakers have set the away team as an 8-point favorite, and despite the difference between the talent level of the two, it is too much value on the home side to pass on. The Suns can and will score, and the Wolves need to be very efficient to win by double-digits or so. They will probably win, but I’m looking for the home cover.
The total points line says 225 points, which is about fair, depending on Chandler’s availability. He’s a much more defensive of the Suns two centers, so if you are looking to go for under, make sure you check on his game-day status.
My Pick: Phoenix +8 (-110)
Total: (no total points wager here)
