It’s Game 5 tonight at the Footprint Center and the Suns have a chance to close out their first-round series against the Clippers tonight to move on to the western conference semi-finals.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Suns just finished a two-game road trip in Los Angeles where they won back-to-back games to put them at a 3-1 advantage. Devin Booker on the series has been absolutely sensational as he’s leading the NBA playoffs in points per game and steals per game.
Not to mention 3 of the Suns players are averaging the most mid-range buckets so far in the playoffs and if you count Mikal Bridges, it’s every player that played for the Suns at some point this season.
Playoff leaders:
PPG — Devin Booker
RPG — Anthony Davis
APG — Jrue Holiday
SPG — Devin Booker
BPG — Anthony Davis pic.twitter.com/mzlaohjGKX— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 24, 2023
Most points this playoffs:
139 — Devin Booker
129 — Anthony Edwards
126 — Steph Curry
126 — De’Aaron Fox pic.twitter.com/9El36cYBla— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 24, 2023
Most mid-range buckets this playoffs:
10 — Kevin Durant
9 — Devin Booker
9 — Chris Paul
8 — Mikal Bridges pic.twitter.com/GbK8vZcuGs— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 21, 2023
It doesn’t even stop there as Kevin Durant is averaging 28 PPG and he and Booker have scored more than 25 points in each of the first four games this series. This makes the first duo to ever accomplish this since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
73 COMBINED POINTS LAST NIGHT ☄️
KD & Book are the 1st duo to each score 25+ PTS in each of their first 3 games of a postseason since Kobe Bryant & Shaquille O'Neal in 2003 (h/t @ESPNStatsInfo) pic.twitter.com/fssyU8fuCj
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) April 21, 2023
As for the Clippers, they will still be without Kawhi Leonard as he’s still nursing an injury to his right knee, and Paul George who has the same injury.
Russell Westbrook however has been a madman in these playoffs as he’s been averaging 26 PPG and just finished his last game with 37 points. He’s been proving the doubters wrong night in and night out this postseason.
Russell Westbrook is the second player in NBA playoff history to record:
37 points
ZERO free-throwsInsanity. pic.twitter.com/d3rJAXYwk7
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 25, 2023
Russell Westbrook is leading the Clippers in
Points
Assists
Steals
Blocksin the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/5rvrEWyeyH
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 22, 2023
It’s a must-win game for the Clippers and they’ve shown over the last two games that they’re capable of giving the Suns a run for their money. Here are the odds and my prediction for how this game will go tonight.
Odds For Tonight’s Game 5 Between Suns and Clippers
The Suns are favored tonight at -12.5 which is their biggest margin of the series thus far. The money line is set at -770 for the Suns and +600 for the Clippers. The over and under is set at 224 which is right around where it’s been all series long.
Prediction For Game 5 Between Suns and Clippers
I got the Suns closing out their first playoff series at home in the Monty Williams era tonight by a final score of 120-99. I think the Suns smell blood in the water and got done getting through a tough road trip where the Clippers gave them everything they could handle.
I believe this is the game where the Suns finally get off to a fast start in the 1st quarter and have control of this game early. Once the Suns’ crowd gets going early, it will be too much to overcome for the Clippers.
