The Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves will clash on Monday night in the lone NBA game on national TV to start the week.
The Suns have been one of the fun surprises of the early season for fans and bettors alike. They are 13-10 and sit seventh in the Western Conference standings. That record may not jump off the page, but the Suns weren’t looked at as a team that could compete in the West entering the season.
So far, they have proven plenty of people wrong.
Backup point guard Collin Gillespie is having a breakout season and shooting the lights out right now, averaging 42.9 percent on 7.0 3-point attempts per game. Offseason acquisition Dillon Brooks has also leveled up so far, bringing his signature toughness to a Suns team that looked lifeless last season. Those two players have managed to reduce the vacuum left by Devin Booker, who is out with a groin injury.
The Suns are 15-8 against the spread this season (ATS), tied with the Knicks for the second-best ATS record in the league. More impressively, no team in the NBA has covered the spread by more points on average than the Suns (+5.0).
Betting on the NBA?
The Timberwolves have a better straight-up record than the Suns, and are winners of their past five games, but they’ve fallen short of being impressive in that stretch. They failed to cover in their previous three games against the Pelicans (twice) and the Clippers, two of the worst teams in the West.
The Wolves are 8-15 ATS this season, fifth-worst mark in the NBA, and 4-7 ATS at home. Anthony Edwards is averaging a career-high 28.1 points per game and shooting 41.6 percent from deep, but I’m concerned that his high-volume style of play will hinder the team in the long run.
The last time these two teams played, Phoenix erased an eight-point deficit with 51 seconds left in the fourth quarter to pull off one of the most improbable wins in recent memory.
The Suns will enter this game confident that they can hang with the Wolves on their home floor. I’ll take the Suns to cover the spread.
The Play: Suns to cover +10 (-106, FanDuel)
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He’s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
