Venue/ Stadium: EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT
The Clippers (12-6) are looking for a season-best 4-game winning streak in tonight’s game, but a win will not be easy facing a Jazz (12-7) team that has won 2 straight and is 10-3 at home this season.
Time/Date: 10:30 PM EST Wednesday, February 1, 2012
NCAA Odds From: BetOnline
Moneyline: OFF
Spread (ATS): Clippers -3.5
Over/Under: 193
L.A. Clippers vs. Utah Jazz Preview
On top of that the Clippers have lost 16 straight against the Jazz in Utah.
In their last games the Clippers got a great win beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-100 and the Jazz beat the Portland Blazers 93-89.
This season the Clippers are 11-7 ATS with an O/U record of 10-8 and the Jazz are 10-9 ATS with an O/U record of 9-10.
On January 17th these 2 teams met in Utah with the Clippers failing to show up in an embarrassing 108-79 loss.
The Utah defense has had their issues this season ranking 18th in the league in opponents’ points allowed and will be matched up against a hot Clippers’ squad that ranks 5th in the league in scoring, is averaging 50% shooting, and 106.3 ppg in their 3-game winning streak.[soliloquy id=”82219″]
Both Blake Griffin (21.1 ppg 11.1 rpg) and Chris Paul (18.1 ppg 8.9 assists per game) had big games in the win over Oklahoma City and they are, obviously, the guys the Jazz has to key on. However, the Clippers have a balanced team with SG Chauncey Billups and SF Caron Butler each averaging over 15 ppg.
The big question in this game is will Al Jefferson (17.9 ppg 9 rpg) be able to play? He leads the Jazz in scoring and is 2nd in rebounding and if he cannot go with his ankle injury it will be a big blow. Starting SG Raja Bell (5.9 ppg) is out for this game with an injury. Still, even without Jefferson and Bell the Jazz beat a solid Blazers’ team in their last game.
With Jefferson a big question mark Paul Millsap (17.1 ppg 9.4 rpg) will have to step up like he did in the Blazers’ game where he went for 19 points and grabbed 15 boards.
Griffin will need help on the glass, as the Clip Joint only ranks 26th in the league in rebounds per game.
Jason’s Pick: The Clippers have not won in Utah since was back in 2003 and I think that streak will end tonight. The Clippers are playing with a ton of confidence and in the big loss to them a couple weeks back Paul was injured and did not play. Look for the Clippers to win this game and cover the spread.
