The scorching Suns have won six in a row and will begin their seven-game roadtrip with a date against the

The scorching Phoenix Suns look to extend their winning streak to seven as they visit the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs lead the season series, 1-0.

Catch the game tomorrow at 9:30 AM, Manila time.

AWAY: Phoenix Suns (25-18, 11-7 AWAY)

Projected starting five:

  • Devin Booker
  • Bradley Beal
  • Nassir Little
  • Kevin Durant
  • Jusuf Nurkic

The Suns are continuing to build momentum as they have now won six consecutive games, and 11 of their last 14. They are averaging 119.4 points per game on 52.1% shooting during that span, topped off by a nice +6.0 net rating.

As per usual, Kevin Durant is powering the team to its surge. He is averaging 29.6 PPG on the season and has posted back-to-back 40-point games. Devin Booker, who hung 52 points during Saturday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans and has 26.7 PPG alongside a career-high 7.6 APG, is right there with him. The duo should remain to be quite the force. 

Durant and Booker should be eager to redeem themselves from their performance during their Christmas Day dud, where the Suns lost, 128-114, and KD was limited to 16 points on 4-for-11 shooting.

Bradley Beal (18.0 PPG) and Grayson Allen (13.7 PPG) remain as the main scoring help, especially the latter as he currently has the only ‘50-40-90’ line in the league – he is actually just 1% shy of a 50% clip from beyond the arc.

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HOME: Dallas Mavericks (24-19,13-10 HOME)

Projected starting five:

  • Luka Doncic (day-to-day) / Kyrie Irving
  • Dante Exum / Kyrie Irving and Tim Hardaway (day-to-day)
  • Derrick Jones / Josh Green
  • Grant Williams
  • Dereck Lively

The Mavericks come in as losers in their last two games. They lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, 127-110, and the Boston Celtics, 119-110. Adding to all that, the statuses of Luka Doncic (back) and Kyrie Irving (thumb) are both up in the air.

The potential absences are obviously huge since it’s the team’s top two scorers – Doncic with 33.6 PPG, and Irving with 25.2 PPG. Doncic also dropped 50 points while adding 15 assists and four steals in the aforementioned win over the Suns. 

If the duo is unable to suit up, Tim Hardaway, Derrick Jones, and rookie Dereck Lively will lead the shorthanded team. Hardaway has 18.2 PPG on the season and 25.8 PPG over his last four. Jones and Lively, meanwhile, chipped in 23 and 20 points in their win vs. the Suns last month, respectively.

In 43 games this season, Dallas is scoring 118.3 PPG and giving up 117.4 on the other end.

PREDICTIONS:

Handicap: The Suns (-1.5)

Over/Under: The total goes under 240.

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