Trail Blazers vs. Suns Odds, Pick & Preview: Should You Lay the Big Number with Phoenix? (March 2)

Trail Blazers vs. Suns Odds

Despite losing their last two games, the Phoenix Suns are massive home favorites against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday.

Not only were the Trail Blazers sellers at the trade deadline, but they also have plenty of injuries right now. How will their make-shift lineup fair against the best team in the league?

The Suns are without Chris Paul, but still should have no trouble against this Blazers team. It will be the Devin Booker show again as the Suns look to get back to their winning ways to build on their Western Conference lead.

The Suns should win, but can they cover this huge number?

Will the Blazers Keep it Competitive?

The Trail Blazers were obviously sellers at the trade deadline as they try to build around Damian Lillard moving forward. They traded away CJ McCollum, Robert Covington, and Norman Powell. We'll see what they do with Jusuf Nurkic, but he is out for about three more weeks.

Not only is Nurkic out, but tonight the Trail Blazers will also be without Nassir Little, Justise Winslow and Eric Bledsoe. They will likely trot out a starting lineup of Anfernee Simons, Josh Hart, CJ Elleby, Keon Johnson, and Drew Eubanks. An extremely small and not very talented starting lineup.

Since trading away a majority of their players the Trail Blazers are actually 4-3. However, with Nurkic out their last two games they have gotten absolutely dominated. They lost 132-95 to the Warriors and 124-92 to the Nuggets. Tonight won't get any easier facing the best team in the league.

If they do have a chance, they'll need another strong game from Anfernee Simons. The fourth-year guard is having an incredible season, averaging a career-high 17.1 points per game. Over the last six games, Simons is averaging 26.8 points per game while shooting 47.5% from the field and 43.1% from behind the arc. He has averaged a ridiculous 4.7 made 3-pointers per game during that stretch.

The Trail Blazers rank 28th in Defensive Rating this season and that number has dropped even lower recently. I have absolutely no clue how they are going to pose any threat whatsoever to this Suns offense which is so talented.

Can the Suns Cover without Chris Paul?

The Phoenix Suns continue to be the best team in the entire league with a record of 49-12. They lead the second place Warriors by 6.5 games in the Western Conference. They have won two of their three games against the Warriors with one game remaining. They have almost locked up the top seed.

The Suns are also exceptional at home as they have the league's best record at 26-7. However, they have lost their last two home games to the Pelicans and Jazz. Losing Chris Paul has proven to be a big loss for the Suns. He continues to lead the league in assists with 10.7 per game.

With no Paul in the lineup, it has been the Devin Booker show. In three games without Paul this season, Booker has seen an increase in playing time along with his scoring and assist numbers. He is averaging eight assists per game during that time, which is far better than his normal regular season numbers.

Not only has Booker increased his production, but so have Jae Crowder and Cameron Johnson. They both have nearly doubled their scoring output with Paul out of the lineup. Johnson moved into the starting lineup and their offense hasn't skipped a beat. He has been playing so well lately.

Where the Suns have struggled without Paul is on defense. The Suns rank third this season in Defensive Rating, allowing 105.9 points per game. However, without Paul in the lineup the Suns Defensive Rating drops from 106.6 to 115.7 per game. Despite their defense taking a major hit, it is still very difficult to see them having much trouble against the Blazers offense.

Trail Blazers-Suns Pick

It is time for the Suns to get back on track and in their winning ways. Can they win and cover the spread is the main question.

This is a massive mismatch every way you look at this game. The Suns are coming off of back-to-back home losses, but they should have no problem against the Blazers tonight and have proven they can blow out bad teams.

I'll lay up to 14 points in this one.

Pick: Suns -13 (-110)