Tip-off: Sunday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Phoenix -1, Total: 217

The Raptors close out a brutal road trip on Sunday night when they visit the surging Suns.

Toronto has risen to the top of the Eastern Conference with an 8-3 SU record (6-5 ATS) in its past 11 contests, but has gone 2-3 (SU and ATS) during a very difficult six-game road trip to run its away record to 10-6 (SU and ATS) on the season. However, the club has dropped two straight, including an ugly 126-105 defeat to the Warriors on Friday. Phoenix is 7-2 SU (8-1 ATS) in its past nine contests, and seven of those games came on the road. Now the club returns home where it has gone 8-7 (SU and ATS) this season. These Suns swept last season's series, but the Raptors won the earlier meeting this season by a 104-100 score at home on Nov. 24. Although Phoenix is a dominant 23-11 SU in this series since 1996, the ATS records are both 16-16 with Toronto holding the 9-7 ATS advantage when visiting US Airways Center. Both teams have impressive betting trends, as Toronto is 20-5 ATS (80%) after a road loss in the past two seasons, while Phoenix is 35-14 ATS (71%) in the same timeframe versus good three-point shooting teams (36%+ threes). The Raptors continue to miss SG DeMar DeRozan (groin), while the Suns enter this game free of significant injuries.

Can Toronto wrap up its road trip with a victory? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. StatFox Forecaster has a strong 56% ATS record (86-69-1) in featured games this season. In terms of Best Bets, StatFox Gary is 58% ATS (15-11) since Nov. 29 to give him a 55% ATS (27-22) mark in NBA Best Bets this season, while StatFox Brian is 63% ATS (17-10) in Best Bets since Nov. 29 to improve to 55% ATS (27-22) for the season. Since Dec. 21, StatFox Scott is a sizzling 80% ATS (8-2) in Best Bets

Toronto has been an explosive offensive team this season with 108.0 PPG (3rd in NBA) on strong shooting clips of 46.2% FG (10th in league), 36.4% threes (9th in NBA) and 78.4% FT (3rd in league). The club has been mediocre defensively though, allowing 100.9 PPG (20th in NBA) on 45.9% FG (21st in league) and 35.7% threes (18th in NBA). The success of the Raptors is fueled mostly by PG Kyle Lowry (20.7 PPG, 7.7 APG, 4.8 RPG, 1.6 SPG), who has an impressive 3.3 Ast/TO ratio this season. Lowry is currently on a scoring tear with 20+ points in six straight games where he's averaged 26.3 PPG on 51% FG and 44% threes (14-of-32), plus 7.2 APG, 5.3 RPG and 2.2 SPG. He shot poorly in the Nov. 24 win versus Phoenix (6-of-16 FG, 0-for-3 threes), but still had 14 points, eight assists, seven boards and two steals in the victory. C Jonas Valanciunas (12.3 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.0 BPG) was the best player on the court that night with a career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds, which were both game highs. He made 10-of-11 FG and 7-of-8 FT while posting a +10 rating. Valanciunas has had a solid road trip so far with 14.2 PPG and 6.8 RPG in the five games, but played only 11 minutes in Friday's blowout, scoring eight points with zero boards. SG Louis Williams (14.9 PPG, 1.1 SPG, 36% threes) has done a great job picking up the scoring slack for injured starting SG DeMar DeRozan (19.4 PPG), as Williams has tallied eight games of 20+ points. He bounced back from a horrible shooting night in Portland on Tuesday (1-of-10 FG, 0-for-5 threes) with 20 points (6-of-14 FG and 7-of-7 FT), and also contributed 17 points in the win over Phoenix this season. SF Terrence Ross (12.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 38% threes) has scored at least eight points in 13 straight contests, but has been in a shooting funk so far on the road trip at 35% FG (23-of-66), shooting 40% or worse from the field in all five contests.

Phoenix has topped 100 points in seven straight games and is now averaging 106.7 PPG (4th in league) on healthy shooting clips of 46.1% FG (11th in NBA), 37.6% threes (4th in league) and an NBA-best 80.3% FT this season. But this fast-paced offense struggles on the defensive end, surrendering 104.6 PPG (28th in league) on 45.4% FG (18th in NBA) and 34.9% threes (13th in league). Five different Suns average between 14 and 17 points per game, led by SG Goran Dragic (16.7 PPG, 4.0 APG, 3.6 RPG, 1.0 SPG), who is looking to bounce back from a rough shooting night on Friday when he made only 3-of-13 shots (1-of-6 threes), but he did grab 10 rebounds with four assists and three steals. To help his team win on Sunday, Dragic will need to play much better than he did on Nov. 24 versus the Raptors when he scored only six points (3-of-9 FG) with four assists, four turnovers and a minus-14 rating. PG Eric Bledsoe (16.6 PPG, 5.9 APG, 5.3 RPG, 1.5 SPG) was much more productive than his backcourt mate that night with 25 points, seven boards, six assists, two steals and two blocks. PF Markieff Morris (15.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.3 SPG) has been outstanding in the past two games with 23.0 PPG on 59% FG (17-of-29) and 6-of-9 threes. He also played very well in Toronto this season with 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a +7 rating. PG Isaiah Thomas (14.4 PPG, 3.9 APG, 38% threes) is coming off a well-rounded performance in Friday's win over Philly when he had 12 points (4-of-6 threes), six boards and five assists in just 23 minutes. Thomas poured in 16 points (6-of-10 FG) in 22 minutes off the bench versus the Raptors, and both he and Bledsoe did a great job of forcing opposing point guard Kyle Lowry to shoot so poorly that game. SG Gerald Green (14.1 PPG, 39% threes) has caught fire in the past three games with 17.3 PPG on 46% FG (8-of-16 threes). Green scored 13 points versus the Raptors this season, but also had a game-high five turnovers.