Game Time: 4:00 PM ET, Friday, October 22nd, 2021 

Venue:  Staples Center, Los Angeles, California

Where to Watch: ESPN, NBA League Pass
 

DraftKings:  Spread: Hawks -2.5:  O/U: 224.5

BetMGM:  Spread: Hawks -3:  O/U: 2246.5

Caesars:  Spread: Hawks -2.5:  O/U: 224.5

Suns: 0-1

Lakers: 0-1

The Suns lost to the Denver Nuggets and the Lakers lost to the Golden State Warriors… with that, a long NBA regular Season is underway.  Both the Suns and Lakers are expected to make the playoffs this year, both have the personal expectation of winning the NBA finals.  These are both Western Conference teams and they both can’t make the finals… they both can’t win a championship… Plus the West is great!  It’s a long season… let’s make some money.

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RECENT FORM

The Suns lost game one of the 2021-22 NBA season to the Denver Nuggets 110-98 on.  Nuggets Center Nikola Jokic showed up to remind everyone he was last year’s MVP of the league.  He dropped 27 pts and 13 rebounds, guard Will Barton chipped in with 20 pts, 6 rbs, and Michael Porter Jr added 15 pts, 6 rbs, and 5 assists.  The big 3 of Phoenix had a soft night with no individual performance leaping off the stat sheet. Chris Paul 15 pts, Deandre Ayton, 15 pts, Devini Booker 12 pts… The Suns treated this one like another preseason game and forgot to ramp up the effort.  The bright spot for the Suns was F Mikal Bridges who was the Suns high-scorer with 16 pts.  The continued success in Phoenix is all based on Mikal becoming a strong 4th star before Chris Paul falls off the edge of a 38 year old cliff.

The Lakers lost game 1 to the Golden State Warriors 121-114 during the kickoff to the regular season on TNT Tuesday night.  They looked old and disorganized.  In the Lakers defense, young players Kendrick Nunn and Talen Horton-Tucker were out… that blasted the average age of the NBA’s oldest team even higher.  Everyone knows the experiment that is going on where the Lakers added former league MVP and triple-double champ PG Russell Westbrook, to current KING LeBron James, and most important guy on the team PF Anthony Davis.  It didn’t work in game 1, but it’s a long season.  LeBron had 34 points, AD had 33 pts, Russ nabbed 8 points.  The assorted cast of geezers Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard,  and Carmelo Anthony all scored single digits along with horrible shooting percentages.   The team added Avery Bradley off the scrap heap just two days prior and he played like the third best Laker on the floor in limited minutes.  

The NBA preseason is over and all the games count now.  The Lakers and Suns should win a lot of games this season… but one will lose Friday night and fall to 0-2

The NBA rankings are worthless right now.  The Suns are ranked 18th in offensive efficiency and the Lakers are ranked 24th in offensive efficiency.  With only 1 game to choose from these stats are meaningless… and with the Lakers adding 9 new players to the roster from last year, while losing 9 players … Last year’s stats are meaningless in comparison.  This is a gut game.  The numbers won’t start being reliable until a few games are under everyone’s belt.

The Suns are ranked 12th and the Lakers ranked 15th… only one game on the ledger so, grain of salt.

Our prediction for Friday, October 22nd is… Suns 120 - Lakers 105

Each and every Sun star had lukewarm games in the opener.  They will all play better in the bright lights of LA especially Chris paul.  The Lakers’ stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James will overcorrect while trying to get Russell Westbrook a great game… it will backfire.  Russ will play much better but at the expense of LeBron and AD shot attempts.

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The Suns are 20-13 ATS after an upset loss as a favorite the last 3 seasons.

The Suns are 92-73 ATS in all games over the last 3 seasons.

The Suns are 7-5 ATS against the Lakers over the last 3 seasons. 

The Lakers are 16-9 ATS on Friday nights the last 3 seasons.

Suns:  PF Dario Saric (knee) Out indefinitely

Lakers: PG Kendrick Nunn (ankle) Out indefinitely * SG Talen Horton-Tucker Out indefinitely *

SF Trevor Ariza (ankle) Out indefinitely * SG Wayne Ellington downgraded to OUT

Suns:  PG Chris Paul, SG Devin Booker, SF Mikal Bridges, PF Jae Crowder, C Deandre Ayton

Lakers:  PG Russell Westbrook, SG Malik Monk, SF Kent Bazemore, PF LeBron James, C Anthony Davis

Lakers:  Lebron James leads in points, rebounds, assists 34, 11, 5.  Rajon Rondo leads in steals 2. Anthony Davis leads in blocks 2… Anthony Davis should take it as a personal mission to get more rebounds than LeBron in every game.

Suns:

Points:  Mikal Bridges 16

Rebounds: Javale McGee 8

Assists:  Chris Paul 10

Steals: Chris Paul 2

Blocks: Chris Paul 1

Phoenix:  Monty Williams

Los Angeles: Frank Vogel… but really LeBron