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Suns Shine Bright on Friday Night

· Nov 17 - 4 minutes read

While considering our best NBA bet for Nov 17, we landed on this Western Conference clash between the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz. The NBA odds show the Suns as narrow road favorites but based on their recent history against the Jazz, we believe these are points worth laying in our NBA picks on Friday night.

Booker’s Back

Devin Booker made just his third appearance of the season on Wednesday night and his presence was profound in the Suns’ 133-115 victory over the Timberwolves. The three-time NBA All-Star ended the night with 31 points, five assists and four rebounds while Kevin Durant had 31, six and six.

The Suns own a disappointing 5-6 record this year but they have been missing two of their three biggest stars, Booker and Bradley Beal, for long stretches over the early part of the season. Turnovers have plagued Phoenix at 15.5 per contest, fourth-most in the league. However, they cut that down significantly on Wednesday night with Booker on the court, finishing with nine.

Jazz Douse Blazers

The best NBA bet line on the Portland/Utah game revealed the Jazz as rare favorites, which was not surprising considering the competition. The Trail Blazers are among the worst teams in the league which meant laying seven points at home was not a leap of faith even for a team as underwhelming as Utah.

Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen combined for 51 points in Utah’s 115-99 win over Portland on Tuesday night. John Collins and Kelly Olynyk have seen increased minutes since the absence of 7-footer Walker Kessler, who has been sidelined with an elbow injury, as they combined for 26 points and 22 rebounds.

The Jazz stand at 4-7 on the season with two of those four wins coming in the last two games in against Memphis and Portland.

Phoenix vs Utah Best Bet

This is a game between a title contender that has endured a rough start because of injuries versus a team that was eight games below .500 last season and wasn’t expected to be any better than that this year. So we see an NBA line that has the Suns as a 5½-point road favorite.

And while that smacks of a square play, with the books almost enticing us to bet Phoenix, it still seems too low. Although Durant is the big gun on the team, the straw that stirs the drink is Booker, who has played only three games.

However, if we factor in his preseason appearances, the Suns are 5-1 and winning by an average of 9.6 points per game. He’s a game-changer to be sure and we should also note that Phoenix has dominated Utah in recent memory, having gone 9-4 against the spread over their last 13 games against the Jazz and 5-1 ATS when those are played in Salt Lake City.

The last meeting saw the Suns defeat the Jazz on Oct. 28 in a 126-104 blowout as 5½-point home chalk without Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. Now we have this same matchup, albeit at a different venue, but with Booker and maybe, just maybe, Beal in the mix. Lay it and like it with the Suns at the BetUS sportsbook.