Utah Jazz vs. Phoenix Suns
By Craig Macleish - San Jose, Costa Rica
TNT offers up a potential first-round playoff preview in the second leg of tonight’s telecast in the desert where the Utah Jazz (38-22, 36-21-3 ATS) and Phoenix Suns (39-24, 37-26 ATS) square off for the second time this season.
Both of these clubs took on the same opponent their last time out, but each put forth different results. The Jazz fell to the lowly Los Angeles Clippers 108-104 as 6.5-point road chalk on Monday, while the Suns erupted for 70 second half points in the Staples Center to easily cover the 4-point spread en route to the decisive 127-101 victory last night.
Bookmaker.com currently has Phoenix tagged as 1.5-point favorites for this NBA betting battle with the game ‘total’ set at 213.
Though they’ve alternated wins and losses in each of their L/5 games, the Jazz sit comfortably inside the Western Conference Playoff standings currently sitting as the #4 seed. They’re 6-4 SU & ATS their L/10 overall, and trail the Northwest Division leading Denver Nuggets by just 1.5-games heading into tonight’s showdown with Steve Nash and company.
Prior Jazz squads led by Head Coach Jerry Sloan seemed to be allergic to playing defense. However, that has not been the case with this year’s version as the Jazz currently stands 13th in the league in points per game allowed (97.6 PPG) and 8th in the league in FG% allowed (44.8%). PG Deron Williams is the ringleader of the league’s best shooting team in the league as the club has converted on 49 percent of its overall shots from the field.
The Suns enter tonight’s spot versus Utah white hot against the NBA odds having won eight in a row and nine of their L/10 for their NBA betting backers. They’re 8-2 SU during that stretch, and find themselves just behind the Jazz as the 5th seed in the Western Conference Playoff standings.
Phoenix has been an unstoppable force since it fell out of the playoff picture at the end of January. Since then, they’ve gone 13-3 SU and have played tremendous ball at both ends off the court. The league’s top ranked scoring attack has averaged just 107.1 PPG its L/10 games (down 2.3 PPG from seasonal average), but what’s been most impressive has been the play of the defense. The unit has surrendered just 97.8 PPG its L/10 games played, which is 8+ points better than its seasonal average allowed of 105.9 PPG.
Utah rallied to pick up a huge come-from-behind victory at home in these teams first meeting this year to take two in a row in the series. Utah is 6-4 SU & 7-3 ATS its L/10 meetings with Phoenix.
The Jazz are a .500 club on the road (14-14 SU), but they’re a $$$-making 16-11-1 ATS on the year. Phoenix has rattled off five straight wins at home, and they’re one of the best home teams in the league going 23-7 SU & 18-12 ATS on the year.
This series has seen the road team go 11-5 ATS the L/16 overall and the over cash in 5 of the L/6 overall meetings.
Will the Jazz snap their two-game road losing streak and take the first two of the season against the Suns, or will Amare and the gang continue to dominate at home? If you got a handle on this NBA betting battle, log into your Bookmaker.com account and stake your claim in the action!