The Utah Jazz head to Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City on Friday night to close down their three-game regular-season series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, so here’s the best betting pick for this Northwest Division showdown.
The Jazz have a chance to sweep the Thunder for the first time since the 2007-2008 season when OKC was located in Seattle and Kevin Durant played his rookie season for the Supersonics. Utah opens as a 12-point road fave on BetRivers Sportsbook, while the totals are set at 220.5 points.
The Utah Jazz look to retain the best record in the NBA
Although they’ve lost two straight games Portland 105-98 and Golden State 119-116, the Utah Jazz (50-20; 39-30-1 ATS) are still the best team in the NBA and will look to clinch the home-court advantage through the playoffs on Friday.
The Jazz are without Donovan Mitchell (26.4 PPG, 5.2 APG) and Mike Conley (16.4 PPG, 6.0 APG), and these two guys will hopefully return from injuries in time for the first round of the postseason. Joe Ingles (12.2 PPG, 4.7 APG) continues to drive Utah’s offense, averaging 7.1 dimes a night over the last two weeks.
Jordan Clarkson and Bojan Bogdanovic are the main scoring options for the Jazz at the moment. Utah is scoring 118.8 points per 100 possessions over its last ten showings (6th in the NBA), so the Jazz are finding ways to score big even with their top scorer on the shelf.
The OKC Thunder cannot wait for the end of the season
That’s right, the Thunder (21-49; 30-39-1 ATS) cannot wait for this horrible season to wrap up. They are all over the place, riding an eight-game losing streak following a 122-106 defeat at Sacramento this past Tuesday.
Furthermore, the Thunder have won only one of their previous 23 contests at any location, going 6-17 ATS in the process. OKC’s best players are already done for the season due to injuries including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (23.7 PPG, 5.9 APG), while Theo Maledon (10.1 PPG, 3.5 APG) is questionable to play Friday against Utah.
Darius Bazley led the way for the Thunder in their last ten games, averaging 17.2 points and 6.7 rebounds a night, while rookie Aleksej Pokusevski was tallying 9.2 points, 3.7 boards, and 3.2 assists per game during that stretch.
Trends:
Utah:
- N/A
OKC:
- 2-6 ATS in the last eight games overall
- 1-5 ATS in the last six contests on the road
Interestingly, the Jazz are a terrible 1-10 ATS in the last 11 meetings with the Thunder and 0-6 ATS in the previous six. Utah outlasted OKC twice this term, 110-109 and 106-96, but the Jazz were nowhere near to cover the spread.
I’m expecting the Jazz to finally break out of their slump and cover. They will be keen to stop a two-game slide and officially post the best record in the NBA this regular season, so the Jazz should easily beat the hapless Thunder.
Pick: Take Utah Jazz -12.0 at -110
The Total:
The Thunder are recording 104.2 possessions per 48 minutes over their last ten games, playing at a very fast pace. However, their offensive rating of 97.5 during that stretch is the worst in the league by far. As I’ve already mentioned, the Jazz have been scoring 118.8 points per 100 possessions over their last ten contests, but Utah has been posting 98.0 possessions per 48 minutes during that span.
I’m going with the over, expecting to see another casual performance by the Thunder. OKC has allowed 122 or more points in five of its last seven outings.
Pick: Go over 220.5 points at -110