No NBA team is covering with more regularity right now than are the Phoenix Suns, winners of nine in a row against the spread. Their only SU loss during that stretch came thanks to a botched Jason Richardson dunk, Sunday afternoon against the Spurs. For tonight, they’ve opened as one-point home favorites against the Utah Jazz, who were the Western Conference’s hottest team at the betting window last month.

Last night, Phoenix took a game with the Clippers that was close at the half and turned it into a 127-101 blowout victory. The team scored 70 points in the second half with Amare Stoudemire leading the way with 30 points and 14 rebounds.

The Suns are the highest scoring team in the NBA (109.4 PPG), but defense has actually been the catalyst during their recent run. Over the last eight games, they are holding foes to an average of just 92 PPG, which is 11.2 PPG lower than their season average.

Last night was their 13th win over the last 16 games as they pulled into the 5th spot in the Western Conference. That means tonight’s game with the Jazz is a potential first round playoff preview. Utah is currently fourth in the conference, one-half game ahead of Phoenix, meaning the Jazz would hold the home court advantage in the best of seven series. Because they trail the Lakers by such a substantial margin in the Pacific Division, the Suns can move no higher than fourth. Utah is only 1.5 games back of Denver in the Northwest, so they can move as high as second.

Utah was the hottest team in the league heading into the All Star Break, winning 13 of 14, and came out of the break just as hot with four more wins. However, they have since gone on to lose three of their last five, including a shocking 108-104 road loss to the Clippers Monday night. It was the team’s second straight road loss to a sub-.500 team.

The Jazz also fell to 6-10 straight up in games decided by five points or less. All three of their recent losses came within that margin. The trends are supportive here as Utah is 10-2 ATS this season when favored by or getting less than three points. They are also 16-5 ATS off a loss, including 11-2 when it occurred on the road.

These teams will play two more times after this, one more time in Phoenix on 3.19 and then in Salt Lake City for the regular season finale on 4.14. Utah won the first meeting on January 25th, rallying from 17 down, to defeat the Suns 124-115 as seven-point favorites. It was the fifth straight head to head meeting where the home team prevailed.

Totals players might be thinking Over here. The Jazz have gone Over in five straight games. Phoenix is 11-0 Over since the start of last season when they are coming off a double digit win over a division rival.

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