Who Scores More Points Devin Booker or LeBron James?
By Peter Dewey
The Los Angeles Lakers return to Staples Center on Thursday for Game 3 with the Phoenix Suns. Will a little home cooking get LeBron James back on track?
The four-time NBA champion has not looked like himself in the playoffs, as he scored just 41 points through the series’ first two games. James has been nursing an ankle injury, but it’s possible that he smells blood in the water with the Lakers at home with a chance to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
The Suns are in the midst of reshaping their identity with Chris Paul banged up due to a shoulder injury, which means we should get another heavy dose of Devin Booker in Game 3.
Booker has got off to a fantastic start in his playoff career, as he dropped 34 and 31 points in the first two games of the series. WynnBET has Booker’s player prop projection for points on Thursday set at 28.5 and the over and under both have -110 odds.
Booker has outscored LeBron in each of the first two games, but can he do it again tonight? WynnBET has James’ projected point total set for 24.5, but Vegas doesn’t think LeBron surpasses Booker as the over (+100) is the underdog to the under (-120).
LeBron looked a little bit more like himself in Game 2, as he shot 9-for-16 from the field and 4-for-9 from 3-point range on his way to 23 points. Still, he isn’t seeing nearly the same volume as Booker, as LeBron has attempted just 29 shots in the series while Booker has thrown up 43.
Booker is still shooting a solid percentage (20-for-43), and he will likely need to do even more tonight if Paul is only able to provide 20-25 minutes like he did in Game 2. Booker has also scored 31 or more points in three of his last five games.
Since returning from his ankle injury, James hasn’t scored over 25 points in a game, and while the home crowd may get him and the Lakers going, I think that Booker will have to outscore James if the Suns want a chance. This season, the Suns covered the spread in 59.7 percent of their games, so I’m going to roll with Booker outsourcing LeBron in what should be a close on in Los Angeles.