When it comes to basketball gambling, the Cleveland Cavaliers are – without even looking at NBA online betting odds at a sportsbook – always favorites (unless facing the Warriors), and the Phoenix Suns will be no exception on Thursday, January 19th.
The Suns
The Suns are playing like they hail from htraE instead of Phoenix. They lost to the Mavs in Mexico City, and upset the San Antonio Spurs ibidem, and then come back to American soil and lose to the Utah Jazz by four points. Consistency is not the mot du jour for the Suns except for when it comes to shooting guard Devin Booker. Win or lose, Booker scored 39 points back-to-back in Mexico. And while he scored a relatively-low-by-comparison 25 points against the Jazz, Booker played a career-high 46 minutes, and averages 34.1 minutes per game this season, and 38.6 minutes in seven games in January.
Booker
In addition to that, he posted 30 points per game, and shot 53.2% from the field, 54.5% from 3-point line and 85.7% from the free-throw line over the Suns’ last six games. Why, this kid’s a veritable jack-of-all-trades. Phoenix has been dealing with injuries to some of its players – including rebounder extraordinaire Tyson Chandler – so basketball gambling fans can expect Booker to get more minutes rather than fewer. Though by definition he can’t play more than 48 minutes per game. Unless they go to overtime.
The Cavs
The Cavs are coming off a tough loss to the Warriors. The good news is that do what the Warriors will, the Cavaliers are still the current, reigning, defending champions of the world. And LeBron James is still the King. Also, as said above, when facing any team other than Golden State, the NBA online betting odds will always favor Cleveland. Nonetheless, the Cavs are still moving pieces around. They got Kyle Korver, and rumor has it, they might be interested in Carmelo Anthony. Or Melo might be interested in them. Or he’s interested in getting the hell out of New York and would only be accepted to be traded to two teams, one of them being the Cavs. Allegedly reportedly. But back to the trade they actually made, Korver did not make his debut when the Cavs played the Suns on January 8th.
Team vs. Team
On that occasion Phoenix went toe to toe with Cleveland. The Suns outscored the Cavs 27-5 at one point in the third quarter and tied the game twice before the end of said quarter. However, James scored 12 points in the fourth, including a couple of back-to-back treys to take a six-point lead. That’s why he’s the King. The final score was 120-116 for the Cavs. Phoenix is 3-4 in January (2-3 at home and 1-1 on the road) while Cleveland is 4-4 (1-1 and 3-3). This will be the Cavs’ first game back at the Q Arena after a six-game road trip. Basketball gambling conventional wisdom says the Cavaliers should get back to their winning ways, and the NBA online betting odds should reflect that.