Oklahoma City at Utah
Time: 9:30 PM CT (TNT)
Spread: UTA -5.5
Total: 209
Odds c/o 5dimes
The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered a Game 3 loss at Utah to the Jazz, and Donovan Mitchell and company took a 2-1 series lead. The Jazz will look to take a near-decisive 3-1 edge tonight in Salt Lake City on TNT at 9:30 PM (Central time). Utah is 5.5-point favorites on its home court, and for all the superstar power the Thunder pack, Utah is out-classing them with good, solid team basketball—and one emergent superstar making his footprint in his first postseason.
While Donovan Mitchell would be a unanimous Rookie of the Year almost any season, it is still likely that Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons takes home that award. It should hardly matter with the Jazz in the midst of a postseason run that figured to be improbable, at best, prior to the beginning of the 2017-18 season. Then again, no one knew “Spida” Mitchell would be quite this good, this quickly. After all, the Louisville product was taken at the end of the lottery, while undoubtedly outplaying all 12 players taken before him. Utah’s gain has been taken straight to the bank, and the addition of Ricky Rubio now looks far more brilliant than most expected, as the veteran has provided some leadership, passing, and continuity—helping the Jazz overcome a slight talent deficit to build a highly effective offense.
Poor offensive teams do not put up 115 points in a postseason game, to say the least, and even the move-challenged Rudy Gobert is getting buckets. The ball-sharing is contagious and Utah now is poised to pull a slight upset over the vaunted trio of Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, and Paul George.
Rubio did far more than dish the rock in Game 3. The Spaniard finished with an impressive triple-double. He notched 26 points, 10 ass, sts and 11 boards while finishing +22 for his 37 minutes on the court. Every Utah starter had a +15 point differential or better, with Mitchell actually being the low end of that mark despite a strong 22 point, 11 rebound performance on 9 of 20 shooting. Gobert’s rare offense came in the form of 6 of 8 shooting for 18 points, as the Frenchman finished around the hole as the beneficiary of some deft Rubio dishes.
The Jazz starters did log heavy minutes, however, and one must wonder if that will have any residual effects. Likely not so, given that the Jazz received a day of rest before Game 4, but it is something to keep an eye on with only Jae Crowder seeing significant time in the Jazz’ second unit.
The Thunder Big Three shot a collective 18 of 43 from the field, and we noted that if their main trio is off, this is an easily defeated bunch. Ray Felton and Patrick Patterson had decent games off the bench, but the Jazz trailed by eight after the first quarter only to lead by five at the half, due to the Thunder lead eroding with its starters on the bench. We did delineate that Utah had a better bench in the series preview, while neglecting to realize just what an effect it would ultimately have on this series.
Game 3 saw benches and team play take the precedence over star power, and perhaps that ends up being the story of this series—a gritty and tough Jazz team that is simply better equipped for the postseason, despite pundits espousing those same superlatives about the Thunder all season and leading into this series.
