The Utah Jazz (23-5 SU, 21-7 ATS) are continuing their domination of the NBA by winning 19 out of their last 20 games. The Jazz and their eight-game winning streak are on the line with back-to-back games against the Los Angeles Clippers (21-8) this week.
The Clippers are fourth-best in the league against the spread with a 17-12 ATS record. No one covered more games in the NBA than the Jazz. Over the last 20 games, the Jazz are 18-2 ATS, and covered seven games in a row.
We’ll get to see how the Jazz and Clippers, two of the top teams in the Western Conference, stack up against top-tier competition. The LA Lakers (22-7) are currently the second-best team in the West, but they’ve lost Anthony Davis through the All-Star break with a strained calf. The Clippers have a golden opportunity to bypass the Lakers and compete with the Jazz for the top team in the West.
The Clippers won four-straight after navigating a rough patch at the start of February in which they went 1-3 with back-to-back losses against the Boston Celtics and Sacramento Kings.
The Lakers are the consensus favorite to win the 2021 NBA championship. You can back the Lakers at +200 odds, according to the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas. During the winning streak, the Jazz saw their championship odds increase to +800. The Clippers are currently +500 odds to win the title, which is the same odds as the Brooklyn Nets.
Jazz Tritones
The Utah Jazz struggled at the start of the season with a 4-4 record. They lost back-to-back games to the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets on an East Coast road trip, which marked their low point of the season. Since then, the Jazz lost one game against the Denver Nuggets. They snapped off an 11-game winning streak followed by an eight-game winning streak.
The Jazz are sensational on both ends of the court, which makes them one of the most complete teams in the league. The Jazz’s defense is ranked #3 in the NBA, allowing only 106.3 ppg, and they’re the top rebounding team, averaging 48.5 per game. On offense, the Jazz average 115.7 ppg, which makes them the fourth-highest scoring squad in the league.
Quin Snyder employs a three-guard attack with Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson, and Donovan Mitchell. Conley recently went down with a hamstring injury, but Snyder didn’t have to blink while inserting Clarkson into the lineup to play in the same backcourt as Mitchell.
The Jazz kept their winning streak alive when they survived two difficult tests against the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. Over the weekend, the Jazz picked off Greek Freak and the Milwaukee Bucks by 14 points.
On Monday, the Jazz won a 134-123 shootout against the Philadelphia 76ers. Without Conley in the lineup, Clarkson picked up the slack with a season-high 40-point effort.
Sharpshooting Jazz
The Jazz’s offense is most similar to what Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs ran to perfection during the apex of their dynasty in the early 2000s.
The Jazz run a lot of pick-and-rolls and stretch the floor with deadly outside shooters. They are one of the best skip-passing teams in the league, which allows them to find an open player behind the 3-point line.
Six members of the Jazz connect on nearly 40% of their treys, and that includes the three-guard attack of Mitchell, Conley, and Clarkson. Joe Ingles leads the Jazz with a 44.2% success rate from beyond the arc, followed by Royce O’Neale’s 43% clip.
Bojan Bogdanovic, who is finally out of his shooting slump, recently improved to 39.4% from downtown.
The Jazz’s top six perimeter shooters attempt 40 treys per game and knock down 16 3-pointers for a 40% success rate.
If you’re looking to fade a really bad team on the other end of the standings, the Cleveland Cavs lost eight games in a row and are 0-9 ATS in their last nine games.