Lakers enter as slim favorites to beat Suns in Game 6
Jun 3, 2021, 9:03 AM
Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis warms up prior to Game 5 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
Anthony Davis is still awaiting clearance from the Los Angeles Lakers training staff to play through a groin strain that he admitted was related to a hyperextended knee, but odds still favor his team.
Los Angeles opened as a three-point favorite over the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series. Those odds for the Thursday game thinned to the Suns being two-point underdogs as of the morning of gameday.
The over/under for Game 6 opened at 208.5 and fell to 207.5 before the teams went through shootarounds Thursday.
Likely, that has to do with the Lakers still having no promise Davis will be available.
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“Getting more treatment tonight (and) tomorrow and kinda talk to the doctors before and after our shootaround and hopefully everything comes back good where they clear me,” Davis said Wednesday afternoon.
Los Angeles was respectively a six- and seven-point favorite in Games 3 and 4, the two prior home games at Staples Center this series.
Davis hurt his knee in Game 4 last Sunday and on Tuesday injured his groin. Phoenix won both games to go ahead 3-2 in the series. Additionally to Davis, the Lakers also list starting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as questionable with a knee injury.
The Suns also have injury questions heading into Game 6.
Point guard Chris Paul on Tuesday reaggravated his shoulder that had slowly improved since his injury was suffered in Game 1.
He left the game with Phoenix up big but said after Tuesday’s win in Phoenix that he would play Thursday.
What’s going with the odds? Lakers star LeBron James hasn’t lost any of his 14 first-round playoff series during his career.
What’s going against them? James said after Game 5 he was approaching Game 6 with the expectation that Davis would not be healthy, and that puts the Lakers in a worse position after losing 115-85 a game prior.
“My mindset, for me, is if A.D. won’t be in the game in Game 6, and if something changes, we’ll go from there,” James said Tuesday. “We’ll prepare as if he’s not.”
As for the over/under, there’s this: The Suns and Lakers have failed to surpass 200 combined points in three of the five games in their current series.
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