NBA Betting Picks: Atlanta @ Utah
Added on Feb 22, 2010 by Jack Thurman in
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Not much on the sportsbooks board today other than basketball, and not a lot of that in either the NBA or college. We’ll take a look at a NBA betting opportunity as the Utah Jazz host the Atlanta Hawks. Hawks are in 4th place in the Eastern Conference, 1 game behind Boston while Utah is up to third place in the West 1/2 game behind second place Denver.
Atlanta Hawks at Utah Jazz
February 22, 6:05 PM Pacific
Hawks enter this game having lost two straight on their West Coast road swing (Phoenix and Golden State) and dropping 3 of 4 overall both SU and ATS. They’ve been one of the best investments in the league this year, but have only covered 4 of their L11 games at this juncture. Though Atlanta isn’t a bad road team, they’re a much better pointspread play at home where they have a 21-6 SU record at Phillips Arena.
The Utah Jazz are one of the hottest teams in the NBA both SU and ATS. SU they’ve won 15 of their L17 games, going 12-2-3 against the spread. They’ve dominated head to head play in Salt Lake City, winning 12 straight games against the Hawks going 8-3-1 against the spread. The Hawks have won the last two games against the Jazz (both played in Atlanta) but the Jazz won and covered the last meeting in Salt Lake City.
Both teams played last night, with the Jazz winning in OT at Portland and the Hawks losing at Golden State. Some early money coming in on Atlanta, perhaps based on the notion that an OT game in Portland was physically more taxing on Utah. All things being equal, in reality the Hawks regulation loss against the uptempo Warriors was probably the more physically draining affair. The general public still thinks of the Utah Jazz in terms of the Stockton/Malone era where they would sometimes struggle in the second of back to back games but the current crop is much younger and more athletic. With the history of the series and the current form of the Jazz, no reason to jump in the path of the Utah freight train at this point. There will likely be a reversal in form by Utah, but until we see a sign of it happening we’ll keep backing them.
Bet Utah -5 over Atlanta
