Back the Hornets over the Suns.

I’m a big proponent of going against teams in their first game back home following a long road trip, and tonight the Suns are in a really bad spot. They ended their five-game, seven-day East Coast road trip with a hard-fought 119-115 come-from-behind win at Philadelphia on Monday, then flew all the way back home and had only yesterday off before returning to the court tonight. When they do take the court, their body clocks (still on East Coast time) are going to think it’s 10:30 p.m.

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Meanwhile, the Hornets played their last two games in the same building in Los Angeles (losing 104-88 to the Lakers on Sunday before crushing the Clippers 112-84 on Monday). And while the Suns were making the cross-country five-plus-hour flight from Philly to Phoenix, the Hornets made the one-hour hop from L.A. to the desert. That’s a big-time energy advantage for New Orleans, which also has the benefit of youth on its side.

Chris Paul and the Hornets have dominated Steve Nash and the Suns, going 6-1 SU in the last seven meetings (including three straight wins in Phoenix) and 8-1 ATS in the last nine (4-0 ATS in Phoenix). And in those nine meetings, the underdog is 7-2 ATS. Lastly, the Suns ended their successful road trip with three consecutive spread-covers. Well, they had just one 4-0 ATS streak last season and just two spread-covering streaks of four or more games in 2007-08.

4♦ NEW ORLEANS

(based on a 1♦ to a 5♦ Rating)

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