NBA Betting Picks: Utah Jazz at Cleveland Cavaliers

Added on Dec 20, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

Cavs are struggling through a brutal season and their ‘LeBron James hangover’ isn’t helping things. Cleveland is 8-19 and in last place and in last place in the Central Division. Jazz are still as solid as ever, winning 6 of 10 and tied for the Northwest Division lead.

Utah Jazz at Cleveland Cavaliers
December 20, 2010 4:05 PM Pacific

Cavs struggling with a bunch of injuries and looking desperately to acquire some interior toughness on defense and some low post scoring on the offensive end. None of that will help them here, and the Utah Jazz are a horrible team to face if you’re soft in the paint. Cavs have lost 9 of 10 covering only 3 times while the Jazz are 14-7 ATS in their last 21 games. Mo Williams has looked terrible at point guard and he’ll look even worse in a matchup against arguably the best point guard in the NBA in Deron Willliams. Jazz haven’t messed around this season playing losing teams–Utah is 10-1 SU/8-3 ATS against teams with losing records. They’ve also dominated the Eastern Conference going 10-1 SU/ATS. Cavs, meanwhile, are 1-9 SU/4-6 ATS against teams with winning records and have been worked over by the Western Conference. Cleveland is 1-6 SU/2-5 ATS against Western Conference opponents and the only win/cover was against Memphis.

Jazz domination of the West is nothing new (43-27 ATS L3 years) but their consistent play on the road is a welcome change from previous Utah teams. Mainstream media and fans still haven’t gotten the clue that the ‘loss’ of erratic head case Carlos Boozer was ‘addition by subtraction’ and the team is much better off–with much better chemistry–with hard working Paul Millsap at power forward. Just a bad tactical matchup for Cleveland and the consistently solid play of the Jazz makes it even more unlikely that the Cavs will be in this game late in the second half.

Bet Utah Jazz -7 over Cleveland Cavaliers