NBA Handicapping Predictions – Spurs vs Jazz
Things do not look good for the Jazz, as they are down 3-0 in this series and while being a great home team this season they lost Game 3 on their floor and it was not a very close game.
Venue/ Stadium: EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT
Time/Date: 8 PM EST Monday, May 7, 2012
NCAA Odds From: Bovada
Moneyline: Spurs -450 / Jazz + 350
Spread (ATS): Spurs -8
Over/Under: 198.5
San Antonio Spurs vs. Utah Jazz Preview
In Game 3 the Jazz were a cold shooting team, really struggled from the charity stripe, and for the 3rd straight game could not contain Tony Parker. The Jazz have to turn things around or they will get swept. NBA lines have the Spurs as big 8-point favorites with a total of 198.5.
In Game 3 the Spurs beat the Jazz 102-90.
The Spurs are at 45-20-4 ATS with an O/U record of 39-29-1 and the Jazz are 34-34-1 ATS with an O/U record of 32-35-2.
The Spurs have won 13 straight games and they have won all 3 games in this series by double digits.
The Jazz sure do not have history on their side, as no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
For the Jazz to avoid the sweep they will need 2nd leading scorer and rebounder Paul Millsap to find his shot. He has averaged 9 ppg in this series after averaging over 16 ppg in the regular season. He and Al Jefferson need to play well since the Jazz do not have a great backcourt. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Spurs are up 3-0 even though Manu Ginobili is not scoring big and has yet to hit a 3-pointer in the series. Tim Duncan looks like the Duncan of old and Parker is playing like the MVP candidate he should be. The Jazz backcourt has to keep Parker from having his 4th straight big game tonight.
6’10” PF Derrick Favors may get the start tonight and his D will be needed to keep Duncan and Tiago Splitter off the glass.
The Jazz are led by their frontcourt, but in Game 3 they only scored 28 points in the paint. They will have to get inside and score some easy buckets and they cannot shoot a free throw percentage of 53.6% again like they did in Game 3.
In some betting trends for this Western Conference playoff game the Spurs are 17-6-3 ATS in their last 26 road games, 9-1-3 ATS in their last 13 games as a road favorite, and they have an Under record of 3-0-1 in their last 4 games.
The Jazz are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games overall, 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games as a home underdog of 5.0-10.5, and they have an Under record of 5-0 in their last 5 games.
Jason’s Pick: You know I am going to buck the trends, as I think the Jazz have some fight in them and while they may not win they will play better than the first 3 games of this series and, at least, cover the spread.
