The O/U is 181. 181! That's the highest O/U between these teams in the past 2 years. The second highest? Wednesday's game @ 177.
LA has an effective road offensive rating of 100.28 going into this game, and Phoenix has an effective home offensive rating of 105. With each team expecting ~79 possessions tomorrow, this means the expected total is <165.
LA is not a high scoring team, and actually only has a offensive rating of 94 on the road, but thanks to the Mercury's poor defense they can expect a few more pts than normal. LA's only chance of winning tomorrow, however, is to buckle down on defense and slow Pheonix's massive 92.8 pts/game. This doesn't make Pheonix's defense any better, but it means each play is going to take longer, which means less possessions, and less pts scored.
LA has an effective road offensive rating of 100.28 going into this game, and Phoenix has an effective home offensive rating of 105. With each team expecting ~79 possessions tomorrow, this means the expected total is <165.
LA is not a high scoring team, and actually only has a offensive rating of 94 on the road, but thanks to the Mercury's poor defense they can expect a few more pts than normal. LA's only chance of winning tomorrow, however, is to buckle down on defense and slow Pheonix's massive 92.8 pts/game. This doesn't make Pheonix's defense any better, but it means each play is going to take longer, which means less possessions, and less pts scored.