You don’t often see a defending NBA champion struggle so mightily on the road. In fact we’ve never seen what the Golden State Warriors have accomplished early this season. The Dubs have yet to win an away game and return to the scene where it all started taking on the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night. Opening their road slate in Arizona last month the Warriors were slaughtered 134-105 and have dropped seven straight following Sunday’s setback in Sacramento. They are 1-6 ATS in those outings.
Wednesday’s game will air live on ESPN with tip off at 10 p.m. ET from Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ. BookMaker.eu will have betting options for every game on the NBA schedule.
Warriors at Phoenix Suns Odds
Golden State Warriors (Check Back Later)
Phoenix Suns (Check Back Later)
Total (Check Back Later)
Season to Date
You expect the Warriors to eventually figure it out, but what they’ve done away from home is concerning. And it’s not like they’re playing the cream of the NBA crop. A recent five-game road trip saw them lose to Detroit and Orlando, who each picked up only their second win of the season. Their only cover in those games was in New Orleans when the Dubs were getting 11 points with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green not playing. After playing a number of close games over the opening month of the campaign, the Warriors may have had a breakthrough on Monday with a 132-95 win over San Antonio and they are within striking distance of .500 thanks to going 6-1 at home.
For the first time this season the Suns dropped consecutive games and limp home after a 1-3 road trip. The NBA’s best home team a season ago the Suns are hopeful they get things squared away on Wednesday. They started the season winning seven of their first nine games going 6-3 ATS before their recent missteps. And it’s probably not a coincidence that their recent woes occurred with Chris Paul on the shelf. CP3 was injured in the first game of the road trip playing only 14 minutes in a loss to Philadelphia. The Suns had a season-low point total in the 100-88 setback and went 1-3 SU and 2-2 ATS to conclude the trip.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors aren’t ready to concede anything with the core of players returning after a fourth championship in eight seasons. There are subtle changes taking place, though, with the club inking Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole to lucrative extensions. It will be impossible for them to keep the group of players together after this season so the fellas better make it a good one. We’ve seen a considerable drop in production from Klay Thompson, who missed last game with an injury and is day-to-day. But Steph Curry is his usual self tearing it up on the offensive end averaging 31.5 points.
Scoring isn’t the problem, though. With guys like Curry, Poole and Thompson the points happen. Stopping opponents has been an issue. The Dubs allow 117.5 points per game with most of that damage taking place on the road. Opponents have scored at least 114 points in all seven roadies while reaching the 120-point mark five times with the OVER 3-2-2 in those games. Golden State handed the Suns one of their nine home losses last season while splitting the season series in four hotly contested games. And you can bet the Dubs are eager to avenger that earlier loss.
Phoenix Suns
Late game breakdowns and problems on offense plagued the Suns during their recent road trip showing us just how valuable a veteran leader like Paul is to the club. Twice on the trip the Suns scored fewer than 100 points, the only time all season that’s happened. And they failed to put Miami away in their last game getting outscored 24-10 to close the game with a 113-112 loss. The Suns attempted just four free throws in that game compared to 25 for Miami. Bam Adebayo was 12 of 14 from the stripe on his own.
As much as the NBA tries to even things out it seems obvious that the home team gets the benefit of the calls a majority of the time. And I have a feeling the Suns will be the beneficiary on Wednesday after Monty Williams was steamed over the disparity. More concerning was the Suns’ inability to hold a 13-point fourth quarter lead. The offense dried up and Paul’s creativity and decision-making was missed. His status for Wednesday is still unknown but the sooner he returns the better the Suns will be.
Warriors at Suns Prediction
The law of averages say the Warriors have a good shot at winning this game. For a team that’s been so good on the road during its championship runs the struggles are alarming. For the first time all season the Dubs played a complete game smothering San Antonio and I can see that carrying over to this matchup.
Prediction: Golden State Warriors and UNDER
