NBA Betting Picks: Utah Jazz at Washington Wizards

Added on Jan 17, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

Martin Luther King Day in the US means that a lot of people get the day off and there’s plenty of daytime sports action for them to enjoy. We’ll take a look at a daytime start game in the NBA as the Utah Jazz travel to the Nation’s Capital to take on the Washington Wizards. Jazz still in a tight battle with Oklahoma City atop the Northwest Division, while the Wizards are trying to avoid having the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

Utah Jazz at Washington Wizards
January 17, 2011 10:00 AM Pacific

This game starts at 11 AM Salt Lake City time, but it could start at 3 AM Mountain Time and it probably wouldn’t help the Wizards much. Just a horrible tactical matchup for Washington–Wizards play very poor team defense and against a Utah team that moves the ball around so well and with arguably the best pointguard in the league in Deron Williams running the show that’s not going to get it done. Wizards actually have a winning SU record at home (11-8) but are just 9-10 ATS and don’t fare well in any relevant pointspread category.

Utah, on the other hand, has absolutely destroyed Eastern Conference opponents this season going 14-2 SU/12-4 ATS. They also take care of business against losing teams, going 17-2 SU/12-7 ATS. Washington has been absolutely dreadful when stepping up in class–they’re 6-8 ATS against opponents with winning records this season but have yet to beat one outright, going 0-14 SU against teams over .500. They’re also 4-26 SU/11-19 ATS as an underdog. We might have some interest in the Wizards if they were playing in Utah and getting a lot more points but with a tight divisional race we have to go with the far superior team. Jazz have covered 10 of the L12 trips to DC.

Bet Utah Jazz -4′ over Washington Wizards