The Lakers survived a rusty offensive performance to survive Game 2 against the Suns. For the third game in a row we’ve seen a seismic shift on the point spread in the direction of the Lakers. They seem to have figured out ways to defend Devin Booker on the perimeter and in the paint, which should make things difficult for the Suns. Grab the Lakers.

I won't take a moneyline favorite at more than -300 so this fits at just under my limit. The Lakers have WAY more size than the Suns, which showed clearly in Game 2 as L.A. won the battle of the boards with a big contribution from Andre Drummond and even Marc Gasol. Anthony Davis was back to his All-Star self. Meanwhile, teams generally shoot worse from deep on the road than at home. Through two games, Phoenix is only shooting 31.5% from deep, failing to take advantage of the Lakers at 28.8%. L.A. will be much better at Staples Center. And, obviously, there's the fact that Chris Paul is playing one-armed (see news feed). This spread is probably too big, but Los Angeles wins.

The shoulder injury to Chris Paul has changed this series. He could only make it through 23 minutes in Game 2, and he wasn’t very effective when he was on the floor. With that being said, the Suns still only lost by seven points. They were excellent on the road this season, posting a 7-2 record there ATS as underdogs. Meanwhile, the Lakers were only 14-22-1 ATS at home. While I think the Lakers win this game, I think the Suns keep it close.