Team records:<\/strong>
\nUtah: 44-24 SU, 42-23-3 ATS
\nPhoenix: 42-26 SU, 39-28-1 ATS<\/p>\nCould there be a worse time for the Utah Jazz to be taking on the Suns?<\/p>\n
***Point guard Deron Williams has a bruised left shoulder and a sprained left ankle, and if he plays tonight he\u2019ll have to spend 35 or 40 minutes chasing Steve Nash around.<\/p>\n
***Andrei Kirilenko has an injured left calf and was limping around with the aid of a walking cast yesterday. He\u2019s a probably scratch tonight.<\/p>\n
***Emerging star Wes Matthews has gotten in on the action, and has a sprained left ankle.<\/p>\n
All three will be game-time decisions.<\/p>\n
All of which seems to add up to big trouble for the Jazz, who seem to go about their business in obscurity, quietly pile up 50-55 wins a year and then graciously bowing out of the playoffs in the first or second round.![\"Online](\"http:\/\/affiliates.commissionaccount.com\/processing\/impressions.asp?btag=a_3953b_41\")
<\/p>\n
The Jazz had more healthy bodies a few weeks ago when they came into Phoenix and somehow outplayed the Suns in the final few minutes and stole a 116-108 victory. Doing that again, with a weakened rotation that desperately needs a few days off, will be another matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time you look around, somebody else is hurt,\u201d said Utah coach Jerry Sloan. \u201cWe’ve cut our practices back to almost nothing, hoping not to tax guys too much and (so they’ll be able to) come out and be ready to play. It’s always a fine line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking of the line, Utah\u2019s injuries have fattened the spread to Jazz +5.5, which should draw some money toward the dog.<\/p>\n
The Suns, meanwhile, are looking at a great opportunity to make up ground in the race for the fourth Western Conference playoff seed and home-court edge in at least the first round. Utah goes in with a 2-game edge over Phoenix with 14 to play, including tonight\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
Betting Trends<\/strong>:<\/p>\nPhoenix is 8-2 SU in its last 10 games at home
\nThe total has gone OVER in 4 of Phoenix’s last 5 games when playing at home against Utah
\nPhoenix is 10-3 SU in its last 13 games
\nUtah is 8-1 ATS in its last 9 games when playing on the road against Phoenix
\nThe total has gone OVER in 6 of Utah’s last 7 games on the road
\nThe total has gone OVER in 6 of Utah’s last 7 games when playing Phoenix
\nThe total has gone OVER in 4 of Utah’s last 5 games when playing on the road against Phoenix
\nThe total has gone OVER in 6 of Phoenix’s last 7 games when playing Utah<\/p>\n
BEST BET: The Suns are coming into this one with three days rest after wasting the Timberwolves earlier this week and scoring a NBA season high 152 points. But the Wolves have cashiered in the season for a few weeks now, and that blowout only enabled Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire to get rest. All signs here point to the Suns covering, even though the Jazz play hard every night and have the best record in the league (42-23) ATS this season. Phoenix should cover, even with road-favorite ref Dick Bavetta as one of the refs.<\/p>\n
Get Your Free $10 Bet Today at Sportsbook.com<\/h4>\n
Visit the Bet Menu at half-time to place your bet. Everybody Gets a $10.00 Free Bet today.<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT AT SPORTSBOOK.COM AND BET $50 ON THE HALF TIME LINE FOR THE FRIDAY NIGHT MATCHUPS!!!!!!<\/h3>\n
<\/strong>
\nLawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling and travel expert from Massachusetts.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our experts weigh in with this week\u2019s best Friday night hoops NBA picks for gambling on all the action…tonight on the hardwood we get the Utah Jazz vs. Phoenix Suns…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4045,5595,24569,24570,24571,25237,25238,25235,26462,26461,25236,20992,20991,9273,9921,25234,26460],"class_list":["post-20441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nba","tag-free-nba-picks","tag-free-nba-predictions","tag-friday-night-nba","tag-friday-night-nba-picks","tag-friday-night-picks","tag-jazz-suns-odds","tag-jazz-suns-picks","tag-jazz-vs-suns","tag-jazz-vs-suns-lines","tag-jazz-vs-suns-odds","tag-jazz-vs-suns-predictions","tag-nba-parlay-betting","tag-nba-parlay-picks","tag-nba-selections","tag-online-nba-predictions","tag-utah-jazz-vs-phoenix-suns","tag-utah-phoenix-picks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20441"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107111,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20441\/revisions\/107111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}