Utah Jazz at Portland Trail Blazers
Time: 10:05 PM ET
Spread: POR -8.5
Total: 194
Betting odds c/o Bovada
The Utah Jazz are in the midst of a rebuild that has rendered the team 17-30 this season, but Jazz fans see a lot of reasons for hope in the team’s frontcourt and development of young talent.
That won’t do much good against a tough team like the Portland Trail Blazers though, as the Blazers are 8.5 point favorites at home in this one.
The Blazers are 32-16 SU this season and 20-5 SU at home. The Blazers are just 14-10 against the Western Conference, however. Utah has won four of its past 10 games, but is just 9-14 SU on the road. Portland lost Saturday night (Jan 31) to the Milwaukee Bucks 95-88.
Portland held the No. 1 spot in the NBA team rebound category for most of the season but has fallen to No. 4. The Blazers sport a plus-5.1 differential while boasting both a top-8 offense and defense. The team does a lot of things required to stop teams, not the least of which is allowing few second chance looks.
The only question really regarding this Blazers team is whether or not it has enough depth. Moving past the starters and Chris Kaman, there are no reliable sources of offense. While Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge both play 36 minutes a game, Terry Stotts struggles to find second unit scoring.
Steve Blake is merely competent, while none of the Blazers other second unit players offer much outside of an occasional stretch of solid play. C.J. McCollum has been a disappointment of sorts, while Thomas Robinson is a classic disappointment as a No. 5 overall pick in 2013.
The Jazz are coming off its best win of the season, a 110-100 triumph at home against the Golden State Warriors. Gordon Hayward had 26 points and 15 rebounds in the game, while Derrick Favors wrecked havoc on the Warriors defensively, accounting for five blocks/steals. Trevor Booker came in firing off the bench to knock down 7 of 11, and he could get going in the second quarter against Portland tonight.
While Enes Kanter did struggle against the Warriors (2 of 7 FG) he is averaging 14 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while posting a PER of 17.81 Over his past 10 games, Kanter has grabbed 8.7 rebounds a game in 28 minutes of play. His future bodes well for a team transitioning from the dominance of Al Jefferson in the post. The 22 year old Swiss center has a great understudy in Rudy Gobert, too.
Gobert is averaging 6.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in 21.5 minutes a night. Favors is good for 15 and 8, though only three Jazz players see more than 32 minutes a game, and Favors is not one of them. He’s athletic as they come, but seems to lack basketball IQ at times, and really seems to have reached his ceiling, a poor man’s Kenyon Martin.
No. 5 overall 2014 NBA pick Dante Exum of Australia has seen limited playing time thus far, just 19 minutes a game, and his PER (9.9) is indicative of his low efficiency at this point. But Trey Burke is proving to be an adequate starting point guard in his own right.
TRENDS:
UTAH: UNDER 5-0 in last 5 road games vs teams with winning percentages over .600; UNDER 4-0 in last 4 after scoring 100 points or more in previous game; UNDER 4-0 in last 4 following SU win.
POR: 0-4 ATS in last 4 home games vs teams with winning percentages below .400; 0-4 ATS in last 4 vs teams with losing road records; UNDER 5-0-1 in last 6 vs teams with winning percentage below .400
Head-to-Head: OVER 7-1 in last 8 meetings in Portland; Jazz 1-4 ATS in last 5 meetings; OVER 5-2 in last 7 meetings.
