NBA Betting – Playoffs Await Winner of Mavs, Jazz
Dallas Mavericks at Utah Jazz (-5.5, 182.5 o/u)
Separated by one game in the Western Conference standings, neither the seventh-place Dallas Mavericks (41-39, 18-22 Away) nor the eighth-place Utah Jazz (40-40, 24-16 Home) have secured a postseason berth as of yet. That will change tonight, though, when they meet at Vivint Smart Home Arena (9:00 PM Eastern) in the second-to-last regular season game for both teams.
Whoever wins tonight will lock up a playoff spot while the loser will have to wait on the outcome of the Houston/Minnesota game. If Houston loses to Minnesota, both the Mavs and Jazz will clinch. If the Rockets hold serve, the no. 8 seed in the West will be determined on the final day of the season for the second straight year.
The battle for the final two spots in the West has been a three-horse race for much of the second half of the year. The Mavericks had been the hottest of the trio of late, winning six straight before yesterday’s 98-91 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Now their path to the postseason looks a little sketchier as they have to face the Jazz on the road tonight and then host the second-place Spurs in their finale.
The Jazz, meanwhile, travel to the lowly Lakers in their last game of the year. Houston hosts Sacramento, another Western Conference bottom-feeder.
Utah got back to .500 on the year with a 100-84 win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. They took a one-point lead into halftime but put the game away with a monster third quarter, going on a 24-0 run at one point and outscoring Denver by 19 in the frame. Trey Lyles and Gordon Hayward each had 22 points on the night to lead the team.
The season series between the Jazz and the Mavs is tied at one win apiece. However, Utah is 3-7 ATS in its last ten games at home against Dallas, and 2-9 SU in its last 11 against the Mavs, overall.
The Jazz offense is the third-worst in the league, averaging just over 97 PPG, and they don’t tend to run away from teams (Sunday’s 24-0 run notwithstanding). Given the playoff-type atmosphere and both teams’ desperation, expect a close, back-and-forth game tonight, meaning 5.5-points is too many to lay down.
Pick: Dallas +5.5.
(Photo Credit: Jonathan Powell CC BY 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
