NBA In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals 2023/24, Wednesday, Dec. 06, 2023
On Wednesday night, the quarter-finals of the NBA In-Season Tournament will see a top-class duel between LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Excitement is guaranteed in downtown Los Angeles!
My Lakers Suns betting tip explains why I expect a fairly narrow defeat for the visiting Suns at best. The best bookmakers each provide a powerful sports betting app for placing bets.
This season for the Los Angeles Lakers is all about giving LeBron James (38), the aging figurehead of the league, one last big chance at a championship.
With a very respectable record of 12:9, they are also fully on course for the play-offs in the strong West. They have won an impressive eight of their last ten home games.
However, it is also true that they have regularly lost out to ambitious teams on course for the play-offs recently. They suffered defeats in Oklahoma (-23), in Philadelphia (-44), against Dallas (-3) and Sacramento (-15), some of which were significant
At 112.5 points per game, the Southern Californians have the tenth-worst offense in the league, with an elite overall shooting percentage of 48.7% (5th), but an abysmal three-point percentage of just 33.7% (29th).
The Lakers are also the seventh most prone team to turnovers with 14.3 turnovers per game.
Defensively, they are still average with an average of 113.5 points, their 45.6% shooting percentage is the eighth best in the league and only five teams manage more blocks than the Lakers (6.0).
The main reason for this is LeBron’s co-superstar Anthony Davis, who leads the league with 2.8 blocks per game and is largely able to build on his resurgent season last year offensively.
In addition to the two superstars James and Davis, a successful season will depend in particular on the supporting cast.
From this, point guard D’Angelo Russell and shooting guard Austin Reaves have recently emerged as the third and fourth scoring options, ideally complementing James and Davis with their isolation scoring and playmaking abilities.
Christian Wood, meanwhile, has proven himself as a versatile glue guy on both ends of the court.
The visitors from Arizona boast the NBA’s 11th-best offense at 116.2 points per game and can at least rely on an average defense at the other end of the court (17th with 113.3 points allowed).
The Suns’ point differential of +2.9 is the tenth-best in the Association.
The 2021 finalists are currently in extremely good form, having won eight of their last ten games, including against heavyweights Minnesota and New York. However, the remaining six wins have all come against teams with a negative record.
The brilliant Suns offensive duo of forward Kevin Durant (31 points on 51.2 % from the field and an outstanding 51.7 % from the three-point line) and guard Devin Booker (27.9, 47.2 %, 39.7 %) will be key against the Lakers.
Interestingly, the Suns are much better away from home than at home, having won seven out of ten games away from home, while their record in Phoenix is just 5-5.
Meanwhile, the historical record of the duel clearly favors the Lakers, as the Southern Californians have won 150 of the 265 regular-season games and 40 of the 68 playoff games to date.
In addition, the gold and purple team has won the last four duels against the Suns, including two games this season (+5 and +3).
I also expect the upcoming game to be exciting right to the end.
I even consider the Phoenix Suns to be the favorites due to their better offense and the Lakers’ problems with similarly good teams
A classic two-way bet on the visitors (odds around 2.10) is a tad too hot for me, however, which is why my Lakers Suns tip resorts to a handicap bet that gives Phoenix a virtual lead of 4.5 points, which must then be maintained.
In other words, for my Lakers Suns prediction to work, the Suns must not lose by five or more points. At Bet365, this bet is traded at very decent odds of 1.62.
My Lakers Suns tip: Suns with handicap +4.5!
