Posted at 11:15 AM EST. Odds subject to change.

Pinnacle -6 -106 BET365 -5½ -110 Sportsinteraction -5½ -115 888Sport -5½ -117

Oklahoma City -6 over Phoenix

Best Odds: -106 at Pinnacle 

9:30 PM EST. Things are starting to unravel for the Phoenix Suns and pardon us if we're a little happy to see it. We've talked at length in articles and podcasts and shows about the Suns' flaws, namely their over-reliance on a talented starting-five and their lack of on-court leadership, but you won't hear that on ESPN or other popular networks. The media is in love with the Phoenix Suns because of their big-3, a dangerous trio of sharp-shooters that can overwhelm any defense. but like we asserted many times in the past, the dynamic isn't as effective as pundits make it seem. 

At 35-25, the Suns remain a good-not-great program, sitting at 6th in a stacked Western Conference. Since January they've looked better, but the Suns can't seem to get by the top-tier in the West. They've been pummeled by the Clippers this season, the newly improved Warriors proved they're still better when healthy in a recent win, and even the Mavericks won their season series 2-1. And when we talk about their lack of on-court leadership, it has nothing to do with talent. We get it that Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal are among the best shooters in the association, but that doesn't mean they know how to rally a team when the going gets tough. We've seen both Durant and Booker panicking and emotionally volatile in the game's most trying moments too many times before. And to make matters worse, Devin Booker went down with an ankle injury in their loss last night against the Rockets. We doubt that Booker or starting center Jusuf Nurkic, who both left yesterday's contest due to injury, will play today.

Enter the OKC Thunder. OKC is second only to the Orlando Magic against the spread this season, covering at an astronomical rate of 64%. They continue to sit in the top 5 on both offense and defense, and they're only 0.5 games back from the top spot in the West. It's been over three months since they faced the Suns, their first contest ending in a 12-point victory for the visiting Thunder. We don't think it'll look much different tonight. OKC is coming off three days of rest (compared to Phoenix, who's on a back-to-back), and the Thunder got caught sleeping and lost to the Spurs in their last battle. This is a lovely confluence of factors for a Thunder squad that should be plenty motivated already against a conference foe. There's a reason why this spread has risen and the weakened Suns won't be able to hang with a fully-powered Thunder team coming off a loss. 

Farley

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