Article courtesy OddsShark (@OddsShark)
The Los Angeles Lakers are 7-2 straight up and 6-3 against the spread over their last nine games against the Phoenix Suns. The Lakers will be without their two biggest stars when they take on the Suns on Sunday night.
Los Angeles is a nine-point road underdog on the NBA odds in Phoenix at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The Suns originally opened as a three-point favorite but have since jumped up to -9 with the news of LeBron James’ injury.
Lakers vs. Suns | OddsShark Matchup Report
Disaster struck early in the second quarter against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday as Solomon Hill dove for a loose ball and landed directly on James’ ankle from behind. James went down hard and was clearly in severe pain. He was eventually forced to leave the game with what has been determined to be a high ankle sprain and will be out indefinitely.
The Lakers eventually lost the game 99-94 and will now be forced to find a way to stay afloat in the brutal Western Conference with both James and Anthony Davis sidelined due to injury.
The Lakers start a two-game road trip against Phoenix with a 14-5 SU and 11-8 ATS record on the road this season.
Phoenix bounced back from a 123-119 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night with a 113-101 win against Minnesota the following night. The Suns have cooled off a little bit out of the NBA All-Star break with a 3-2 SU and ATS record over their last five games since going 14-2 SU and ATS over their previous 16 games.
Phoenix defeated the Lakers 114-104 for their first win in Los Angeles since 2017 when these two teams met on March 2 and will now get another crack at the Lakers without LeBron James.
Sunday night’s total is set at 213 points at sports betting sites. The OVER is 10-2 in Los Angeles’ last 12 road games against the Suns.
Los Angeles had found a nice rhythm out of the All-Star break with a 4-0 SU and ATS record and was finally looking comfortable playing without Davis. Wins are going to be a lot more difficult to come by with James and Davis both out, but the rest of the team will have to step up and hold things down until their two stars are ready to return.
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