The Brooklyn Nets (29-20) visit the Phoenix Suns (40-9) in the late tip for TNT this Tuesday evening. Last February, James Harden led a short-handed Brooklyn team to a 24-point comeback win in Phoenix. This time, the Nets are undermanned again, and Harden is listed as questionable with a hand injury. But what about the NBA odds?
Brooklyn Nets vs. Phoenix Suns
Tuesday, February 01, 2022 – 10:00 PM EST at Footprint Center
The Suns (27-22 ATS) are a 7.5-point favorite over the Nets (19-29-1 ATS) at BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks. Brooklyn is tied with Washington for the worst spread record in the NBA this season. Due to the Kevin Durant injury, the Nets have often been an underdog of three-plus points in the last two weeks. They are only 1-4 ATS as such an underdog, but the Nets did only lose 110-106 in Golden State on Saturday night. Can they keep it close in Phoenix?
November 27 Recap: Suns 113, Nets 107
When these teams last met in late November in Brooklyn, Durant was excellent with a 39-point game. Unfortunately, his sprained MCL will keep him out of this rematch, and the Nets are 2-5 since he was last active, including four straight losses.
Harden shot poorly against Phoenix, including 0-for-6 from three, but he still had a triple-double with 12 points, 13 rebounds, and 14 assists. The Nets did not have Kyrie Irving as it was a home game.
Phoenix led 34-20 after one quarter, and the Nets never got it closer than a 108-101 deficit in the final minutes before they missed three shots in a row. Phoenix got an efficient 30-point game out of Devin Booker, and Chris Paul chipped in 22 points and 5 assists.
The game is notable because the Nets shot 5.4 percentage points better than Phoenix (50.0% vs. 44.6%) despite trailing for almost the entire game and losing by six points. Brooklyn is 24-1 when outshooting the opponent by at least 4.0 percentage points this season, but Phoenix was the only loss. The Nets were sloppy with 20 turnovers, and it was one of their least aggressive three-point shooting games of the season, finishing 7-of-23 from deep.
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Recent Play Strongly Favors Phoenix
Injuries have not kept the Suns from having the longest active winning streak at 10 games, which is why they have the NBA’s best record going into February. Phoenix’s 10-game winning streak is up there with the team’s 18-game winning streak earlier this year given the games missed by starters Jae Crowder and DeAndre Ayton. They are out again this evening, but the Suns have still shot over 45% from the field in the last 10 games, and seven of the 10 wins were by at least eight points.
Over the last 10 games, the Suns are No. 2 in offensive rating and No. 6 in defensive rating, keeping their strong balance intact. Only the Timberwolves have scored more than 110 points on Phoenix in the last 10 games, and Phoenix is 35-2 when teams fail to score more than 110 points against Monty Williams’ team.
Paul has been on fire lately. In the last seven games, the 36-year-old is averaging 20.3 points, 12.9 assists, and shooting 57.3% from the field. Paul has scored at least 20 points in four straight regular-season games for the first time since December 2017.
Booker is averaging 30.1 points per game during the win streak, but minutes are starting to pile up for Booker and Paul. Mikal Bridges helped out with a season-high 26 points in Sunday’s 115-110 win over the Spurs. Paul had a season-high 19 assists.
The Nets are only 4-6 in their last 10 games, and they rank 14th in net rating during that time. This odd experiment of letting the unvaccinated Irving play in road games has led to a 4-4 record with him. He had a season-high 32 points in Golden State on Saturday, keeping the team alive late in the game without Harden or Durant available.
Patty Mills had his hottest shooting game in weeks with 24 points and 6 threes made. He’ll have to keep it up if the Nets are to compete with the Suns without Harden and Durant. Mills only scored nine points in the last meeting with Phoenix.
Prediction
The Suns are arguably the best team in the NBA, but they were a better bet last season when they were 28-14 ATS as a home favorite. This season, the Suns are only 12-14 ATS as a home favorite.
It does seem optimistic that Harden can play on Tuesday night, in which I would grab Nets +7.5 while you still can. The Suns are the better team right now, but they are not whole either due to injury. The Nets still have some incredible talent and that can be enough to get a cover for your NBA picks.
NBA Pick: Nets +7.5 (-110) at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
