Game Time: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 5th, 2022 

Venue:  Capital One Arena, Washington D.C.

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread:  Suns -7

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  Suns -7; O/U 223.5

WynnBet: Spread:  Suns -7; O/U 223.5

Phoenix: 41-10, 1st place Western Conference

Washington: 24-27, 11th place Eastern Conference

A non-conference battle between the league’s best team and the league’s most rapidly deflating team.  The Phoenix Suns aere the best team in the NBA.  They are the most well-rounded with the best floor leader… and a deep roster full of young stars.  They have had the #1 spot in the Western Conference several weeks now.  There was a time when it seemed the Suns would have to always be on their toes to fend off the Golden State Warriors… but a Warriors losing spate that coincided with a few injuries allowed the Suns to pull away into a comfortable 2 game lead.  The Suns feature PG Chris Paul schooling the league’s younger point guards on how to actually play the position (assists and steal please), electric scorer SG Devin Booker 25.5 ppg, and near perfect big man C Deandre Ayton who spent high school , college, and now the pros in Arizona.  They are backed by a deep squad with a great coach… and overlooked Most Important Player SF Mikal Bridges, who plays true two-way basketball.  The Washington Wizards opened the season with a flourish quickly rising in the standings.  They benefited greatly from trading PG Russell Wetsbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers and receiving SF/PF Kyle Kuzma, SF /SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and PF/C and former league sixth man of the year Montrezl Harrell.  The Wizards launched into the top 6 of the standings for the first time in years.  Then someone remembered they play for the Washington Wizards and they have been slowly sinking back down… to compound the problematic losing the only all-star on the squad SG Bradley Beal has a sprained left wrist and will miss games for another two weeks.   The overall problem with the Wizards is they don’t measure the value of players well.  They have held onto Bradley Beal with a losing team for years… both failing to add the proper pieces to help him win… and to trade him for a maximum return… that might have helped them build a winner.  To demonstrate this faulty evaluation process let’s examine PF Rui Hachimura… the #9 pick of the 2019 draft who spent two seasons averaging almost 14 ppg when not injured (and he has been).. Now Rui is back in playing shape and averaging almost 8 pts a game off the bench.  Instead of building a winner… the team seemed to be completely enamored with Rui… they seemed to be preparing for him to be the team’s next star.  Now next to Kuzma, Rui can barely get playing time.  This cowardice to keep trading and building is real.  SG Bradley Beal has a sprained wrist heading into the trade deadline… expect more of the same from the cowardly lions… er I mean… the Wizards front office.  

The Phoenix Suns have won 9 of their last ten games.  They were on a helluva 11-game winning streak before losing last night to the Atlanta Hawks 124-115.  That leaves them at 6-4 ATS over their last ten games.  The loss to the Hawks underscored a problem the Suns are having right now with PG Cameron Payne and PG/SG Landry Shamet out with injury the same time… leaving them a little vulnerable when the second unit is on the floor.  Plus there is now way Coach Monty Williams will want to burn out Chris Paul and Devin Booker to secure a single regular season win two months before the playoffs…. Especially since they are firmly in 1st place.  In the next few games lots more will be expected of PG Elfrid Payton and SF Cameron Johnson off the bench.  His team is built for the long haul and needs everyone deep on the bench now more than later.

The Wizards beat the Philadelphia 76ers last game 106-103… and in the process snapped a 6 game losing streak.  They have only won 3 of their last ten games.  The Wizards hot start to the season came to a spastic end right about the time the team learned some hard lesson about their new roster:  PF Montrezl Harrell is hard to get along with, SF Kyle Kuzma is a fine player who will disappear for longh stretches, 2019 draft pick Rui Hachimura is not a future star on the NBA stage, SG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope should be playing SG… not out of position at SF.   The biggest lesson is of course:  The road to hell is paved with the good intentions of keeping Bradley Beal forever.  Trading Bradley is the only chance for this team to really add young players and picks… The Wizards are going to find out that 2012 draft picks and multiple time all-stars will only get older and LESS valuable as time goes on… This year Bradley Beal is averaging 8 pts a game less than last season.  The team needs a real power forward to move Kyle Kuzma back to small forward and if Beal is moved then Kentavious Caldwell-Pope can play at his natural position at shooting guard.  Also there is a matter of breaking the cycle of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Al McMordie SWEPT THE BOARD yesterday with Bucknell and Vanderbilt, and is back in action in the NBA tonight, on Wednesday. Don't miss Big Al's NBA Non-Division Game of the Month, as it's out of a 100% Perfect, 12-0 ATS angle. Get the 13th Winner in a Row right here, and WIN BIG on Thursday!Go get it! Get Big Als’ picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB, college football… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

Phoenix is 41-10 on the season, but 28-23 ATS.  They have logged 23 Overs, 27 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 19-5 in road games.

The Washington Wizards are 24-27 on the season, but 20-30-1 ATS.  They have notched 25 Overs, 25 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 13-12 in home games.

The Suns are 3rd in scoring with 113.1 ppg, 6th in rebounds with 45.8 per game, and 3rd in AST/TO ratio with 2.0.  They are shooting 1st in FG%, 5th in 3PT%, and 7th in FT%.  On defense they rank a mighty 7th while only allowing 105.5 ppg from opponents.  The loss to the Hawks blew up what was a great 104.? average.

Our prediction for Saturday, February 5th is….  Suns 130 - Wizards 102

The Suns will destroy the Wizards.  The Wizards without Bradley Beal are like Destiny’s Child without Beyonce.  They cease to be effective, they cease to score points, they cease to win.  Bradley will miss this game and the Suns have only lost consecutive games twice in the last 4 months… coincidentally bridging Christmas and Halloween.

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Phoenix is 3-2 ATS versus Washington over the last 3 seasons.

Washington is 1-0 ATS versus Phoenix at Washington over the last 3 seasons.

5 of 5 games in this series last 3 seasons have gone OVER.

Suns: PG Cameron Payne (wrist) Out ** PG Landry Shamet (ankle) Out ** PF Frank Kamisky (knee) Out ** SF Dario Saric (knee) Out 

Wizards: SG Bradley Beal (wrist) Out ** C Thomas Bryant (ankle) Out

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

Wizards: SF Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, PF Kyle Kuzma, C Daniel Gafford, PG Aaron Holiday, SG Spencer Dinwiddie 

Suns

Points: Devin Booker 25.5

Assists: Chris Paul 10.5

Rebounds: Deandre Ayton 10.4

Steals: Chris Paul 1.9

Blocks: Bismack Biyombo

Wizards

Points: Bradley Beal 23.2

Assists: Bradley Beal 6.6

Rebounds: Kyle Kuzma 8.9

Steals: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 1.0

Blocks: Daniel Gafford 1.6

Suns: Monty Williams

Wizards: Wes Unseld Jr