Wednesday’s games in Phoenix features one of the early-season disappointments in the NBA in the Hornets and one of the big surprises in the Suns.
Phoenix, which has won three in a row, including a very impressive victory in Boston, is a 6.5-point betting favorite on WagerWeb.com.
New Orleans might have found the right formula in Monday’s night’s win over the Clippers. Coach Byron Scott inserted veteran forward Peja Stojakovic into the starting lineup in place of inconsistent youngster Julian Wright, and the result was a fast offensive start that carried over into the rest of New Orleans’ performance in a 112-84 victory. That followed a move Sunday of Morris Peterson to the bench and Devin Brown into the starting lineup; Peterson was inactive both Sunday and Monday.
“Yeah, you hate to say it, but they say you don’t want your offense to predicate your defense,” said guard Chris Paul, who had 24 points and 10 assists against the Clippers, “but I think our offense, the rhythm that we had, gave our defense the opportunity we needed to get set”
The blowout enabled Scott to give his starters the fourth quarter off. The rest helped Paul, who twisted his left ankle near the end of the first half when he stepped on the foot of Rasual Butler after making a short, turnaround jump shot just outside the lane. Paul is expected to play tonight in a great matchup with Steve Nash. Paul is averaging 26.3 points and 9.8 assists per game, while new center Emeka Okafor is averaging 10.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.
Meanwhile, Jason Richardson has exploded for Phoenix. Since going scoreless last Wednesday at Orlando, Richardson has led the Suns in scoring three times — he took 16 shots and either seven or eight 3-pointers in each win, averaging 28.3 points. His 72.7 percent 3-point shooting has the Suns shooting better from 3-point range (47.1 percent) than 18 other NBA teams shoot from the field. Of the 11 shots Richardson made Monday at Philadelphia, Nash assisted on eight; he finished with 20 assists and 21 points in the 119-115 win over Philly. He’s leading the league with 12.6 assists per game and that was the NBA’s first 20-point, 20-assist game since he did it Jan. 2, 2006.
New Orleans has won six of the past seven matchups in this series.
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