After pulling out a gutsy road win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns look to make it two in a row with a victory over the Washington Wizards at the Footprint Center.
Will Phoenix’s surgical half-court execution prove to be too much for Washington? Keep reading our Wizards vs. Suns NBA picks and predictions to find out.
Wizards vs Suns odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
The line opened with the Suns laying 8, but it’s as low as 7.5 elsewhere. The total in this one opened at 214.5 and is now all the way down to 213 on some books.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right until tip-off and be sure to check out the full NBA odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.
Wizards vs Suns predictions
Predictions made on 12/16/2021 at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
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Wizards vs Suns game info
• Location: Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ
• Date: Thursday, December 16, 2021
• Tip-off: 9:00 p.m. ET
• TV: Bally Sports Arizona, NBCS DC
Wizards vs Suns betting preview
Injuries
Wizards: Thomas Bryant C (Questionable), Rui Hachimura F (Out).
Suns: Devin Booker G (Out), Frank Kaminsky C (Out), Dario Saric F (Out), Jalen Smith C (Questionable), Abdel Nader F (Questionable).
Find our latest NBA injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Under is 8-1 in the Wizards’ last nine games against teams with winning records. Find more NBA betting trends for Wizards vs. Suns.
Wizards vs Suns picks and predictions
Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.
Spread analysis
The Wizards have fallen off a bit since getting off to a hot start this season, but this team still has plenty of talent and has some stretches in which it plays good basketball on both ends of the floor. The team simply needs to find a way to start doing so for longer periods of time, which is what it did early in the year.
Fortunately for the Wizards, the Suns are still dealing with a lot of injuries coming into this game. Phoenix has won four of its last six games coming into this meeting with Washington, but the team has covered in just two of its last six. With Booker out, the Suns don’t have the same explosiveness on the offensive end, which is why we’re seeing fewer runs in which Phoenix quickly breaks games open.
Look for this to be a similar story for the Suns, who will play good enough defense to give themselves a chance to win late. Then Chris Paul will need to take it from there, and the veteran has been delivering lately. He outdueled Damian Lillard in Portland and he’ll still be the best player on the floor in this game.
Phoenix just needs to contain Bradley Beal in this one, as he’ll be the best scorer on the court here. Look for Mikal Bridges to handle that assignment. That will prevent Beal from getting going fully, but the guard is still too good to be held down for long. He’s a big part of the reason that the Wizards shouldn’t get blown out here. Also, it’s only a matter of time before Spencer Dinwiddie starts to play better for Washington. Perhaps he’ll deliver tonight.
Prediction: Wizards +8.5 (-112)
Over/Under analysis
The Under has hit in each of Phoenix’s last five games, and it’s also 7-1 in the team’s last eight contests. The Suns are third in the league in defensive rating this season, and they have continued to win games with their defense in the absence of Booker. They’ll once again go to the same recipe of slowing the game down and hoping for Paul’s half-court brilliance to carry them home late in the game. That means that this one should be yet another low-scoring affair.
This Washington team isn’t playing well offensively coming into this game either, with the team scoring just 103.3 points per game over the last three contests. It’s hard to envision that changing all that much against this Suns defense, so you should expect this Under to be the right play.
Prediction: Under 213.5 (-110)
Best bet
Until the Suns get Booker back from an injury, it just doesn’t seem like a good idea to take them to cover big spreads. That’s especially true when they play against solid basketball teams, and this Washington group isn’t as bad as it has played over the last few weeks. Taking the Suns to win outright as the final leg of a moneyline parlay isn’t the worst idea in the world, but this one should be close until Paul helps this team pull away in crunch time.
The Wizards might be coming off a discouraging loss to the Sacramento Kings last night, but that shouldn’t scare you off of playing them in this game.
Pick: Wizards +8.5 (-112)
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