Spread & over/under predictions: Charlotte Hornets at Phoenix Suns

The Charlotte Hornets (8-27) hit the road on Sunday to finally begin their road trip with a matchup against the Phoenix Suns (18-19).

This matchup was originally slated to be the third game in a five-game road trip for the Hornets, but the devastating fires in California caused games against the Lakers and Clippers in Los Angeles to be postponed in wake of the ongoing tragedies.

Instead, this will be the Hornets' first game since the team played the Suns in Charlotte on Tuesday. The 115-104 victory snapped what had been a 10-game losing streak going into the matchup.

The Suns have picked up victories against the Hawks and Jazz since the loss on Tuesday. A win tonight would not only bring the team back to .500 on the season, but it would also tie them with the Warriors in the standings for the tenth seed and final play-in spot in the Western Conference.

Here are my picks for tonight's game. Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

Star ratings (Strength of prediction):

1 Star - Not very confident
2 Star - A little confident
3 Star - Fairly confident
4 Star - Very confident
5 Star - Should be a lock to happen

Spread: Suns -7.5

2-star play on the Suns (-7.5): When these teams met on Tuesday, this article picked the Hornets to cover a +4.5 spread, which they did handily. Tonight though, Phoenix is the preference to cover what is an even wider margin.

Despite playing on the second night of a back-to-back, Phoenix looks much more cohesive as a whole since moving Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic out of the starting lineup to try and break up the funk they were in. The team is 3-1 since the move, and look to be improving more as time goes on.

The week has also just been quite unexpected for the Hornets given the changing of plans. Will the extra rest benefit the young and inconsistent team, or will they look rusty coming out of a longer-than-expected break?

The pick here leans towards the latter as the Suns even the season series and continue to push for that play-in spot.

Over/Under: 225

4-star play on the Suns: The Hornets have seen the under hit in eight straight games. The only team who currently has a longer streak in the NBA are their opponents, the Phoenix Suns, who have seen the under hit in a staggering ten straight games.

When these teams met on Tuesday, the game hit a total of 119 in a matchup where we saw a Hornets team who only shoot 19.9 free throw attempts per game go 26/29 from the charity stripe.

Both teams are bottom-10 in pace of play in the NBA, so shots are not likely to be flying at a rate like you might see from some other squads.

Take all of the factors above, and add in the tired legs for the Suns and the potentially rusty legs for the Hornets, and you get a strong preference for the under.

My picks this season:

ATS: 13-9 (59.1%)

O/U: 12-10 (54.5%)

Overall: 25-19 (56.8%)

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