Phoenix Suns vs Los Angeles Lakers preview and pick

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Phoenix Suns vs Los Angeles Lakers Pick and Preview

Phoenix (11-9 overall, 7-4 road, 7-6 conf., 1-1 div.) at LA (15-2 overall, 9-1 home, 11-0 conf., 4-0 div.)

The Phoenix Suns have not started the 2008-2009 NBA season with the kind of surge they had hoped for, watching the Los Angeles Lakers pull ahead in the Pacific Division. However, an upcoming Suns-Lakers matchup could give Phoenix just the jump start it needs even though Beted's betting line is LA favored by 12.5.

Wednesday’s Phoenix Suns-Los Angeles Lakers game will tip at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday at Staples Center in Los Angeles. ESPN will televise the game as the second contest in its Wednesday NBA double-header schedule. Cleveland at Philadelphia will be the first ESPN game at 8 p.m.

Despite finding themselves several games behind the Lakers already in the standings, the Suns are the clear-cut second-place team in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Los Angeles jumped out to the NBA’s best start, winning 14 of its first 15 games before a one-point loss at Indiana last week. The Lakers shook off that rare loss by winning by 12 at Philadelphia the next night. Phoenix, meanwhile started the season quickly, winning eight of its first 11 games, but the Suns hit a bad stretch from the back half of November into early December, losing six of nine games over a two-and-a-half-week stretch.

Back-to-Back Nights: For Los Angeles, playing Phoenix will be the fifth time the Lakers have played on back-to-back nights this season, as LA will visit Sacramento on Tuesday. In their four previous back-to-back performances this season, the Los Angeles Lakers are 4-0 on the second night, both outright and against the spread. The results:

--Win at LA Clippers 117-79 Oct. 29
--Win at New Orleans 93-86 Nov. 12
--Win at home against Denver 104-90 Nov. 21
--Win at Philadelphia 114-102 Dec. 3

When it travels to Staples Center Wednesday, Phoenix also will be playing its second game in as many nights, after hosting Milwaukee on Tuesday. In their previous six back-to-back performances this season, the Phoenix Suns are 3-3 overall and 3-3 against the spread. The results:

--Loss at home to New Orleans 108-95 Oct. 30
--Win at Indiana 113-103 Nov. 5
--Win at Milwaukee 104-96 Nov. 8
--Loss at Utah 109-97 Nov. 17
--Win at Minnesota 110-102 Nov. 26
--Loss at Dallas 112-97 Dec. 4

Second Meeting: Wednesday’s Suns-Lakers game will be the second meeting of the season between the two Pacific Division powers. On Nov. 20, the Lakers traveled to Phoenix as a 4.5-point favorite and whipped the Suns 105-92. In that meeting, the Lakers rode guard Vladimir Radmanovic’s 5-for-5 shooting from 3-point range to pull away from the Suns in the second half. Kobe Bryant led LA with 24 points, but Phoenix limited him to 8-for-23 field-goal shooting. Amare Stoudemire had 21 points to lead the Suns, and Steve Nash had 10 assists. Former Laker Shaquille O’Neal had a solid game for Phoenix, pulling down nine rebounds and scoring 15 points in 27 minutes.

Despite the fact that the Suns have been trying to limit O’Neal’s minutes, he should play in Wednesday’s game as the Suns have been holding him out of the first game when they play on back-to-back nights.

Last season, the Phoenix Suns-Los Angeles Lakers series belonged to Los Angeles, 3 games to 1. The Suns were slight favorites in all four games last season. The Suns-Lakers head-to-head results from the 2007-08 season:

--Lakers 119-98 (at Phoenix, Nov. 2, 2007)
--Lakers 122-115 (at LA, Dec. 25, 2007)
--Suns 106-98 (at LA, Jan. 17, 2008)
--Lakers 130-124 (at Phoenix, Feb. 20, 2008)

Since losing to Phoenix 4-games-to-1 in the 2007 NBA playoffs, the Lakers have won four of the last five games against the Suns. Find out what our expert nba prediction is on tonight's final score.