Last year’s Western Conference winners, the Golden State Warriors, will face off with the prior year’s winners, the Phoenix Suns, live on TNT tonight. The Warriors are slight road underdogs to the Suns, but their fast pace has led to a relatively high 226-point total. Neither team is on the front or back end of a back-to-back, so expect a full dose of the usual starters on Tuesday night. The matchup creates a fantastic buy-low spot for one of Phoenix’s star guards, but bettors should note that they can shop additional Warriors-Suns prop bets using OddsShopper’s tools.
Best Warriors-Suns Prop Bet | October 25
Chris Paul O/U 13.5 Points
The Warriors have approached Chris Paul the same way for the last two seasons: Let him shoot, don’t let him pass. Paul has averaged only 7.4 assists per game against Golden State since 2020-21, but he has scored 15.7 points per game in those contests. He scored at least 14 points against the Warriors three times last year as well.
Paul has gotten off to a miserable start to the 2022-23 season, but he should bounce back sooner rather than later. The veteran point guard is averaging only 7.7 points per game thus far in Phoenix’s fourth-slowest offense. But the Warriors lead the NBA in pace, so Phoenix and Paul should benefit from some extra possessions on Tuesday night. Their defense has also fallen off, as the Warriors rank just 17th in defensive rating 110.4) after three games.
Opposing point guards have laid bare Golden State’s defensive underperformance. De’Aaron Fox just racked up 26 against the Warriors in their last game, and Russell Westbrook scored 19 against them on opening night. Bruce Brown, who Denver awkwardly featured at the one spot when Jamal Murray sat out Denver’s second game, scored 20. Bones Hyland added another 14 off the bench.
Paul will likely see defense from Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole on Tuesday night, and both players have underperformed defensively. Curry and Poole have allowed their opponents to make 36.4% of their shots from between 10 and 14 feet, a range from which Paul took 209 shots from last year. That ranks around the NBA average. Curry has also surrendered 47.1% of attempts for between 15 and 19 feet, Paul’s second-favorite spot on the floor, which is well above average.
Best NBA Player Prop: Chris Paul OVER 12.5 Points (-125) at DraftKings
