Utah Jazz vs Portland Preview

Utah Jazz vs Portland Trailblazers Preview

Added on Mar 31, 2009 by sbworld in

There is a lot on the line as the Utah Jazz (46-27) gets set to go into Portland to take on the Trailblazers (46-27) on Tuesday night. First off is playoff seeding, where both are tied for the 5th spot currently with identical records. On top of that these teams are tied in the Western Conference’s Northwest Division and are just 1.5 games back of the division-leading Denver Nuggets who currently hold the 3rd spot in the playoff standings.

BetJamaica lists the home-team Trailblazers are 6-point favorites on the point spread after the line opened at -5.5. There is also an over/under betting total set for 192 points that has been bet under quite a bit since it opened at 194.

These teams have met up three times this season with the home team getting the outright win and the point spread cover in every single game. Utah hosted the first two games and won 103-96 and 97-88 while Portland hosted the most recent this season with a 122-108 win here on the last day of January. 2 of the 3 meetings this season have gone over the betting total.

Portland has had a little bit of a layoff which will help keep them fresh for this game while Utah is playing their 3rd game in 4 days and had to deal with the New York Knicks in Utah last night before flying to Portland. That amount of games is likely to have Utah playing with some tired legs and the Jazz have covered the point spread in just 5 of the 17 games this season when they were unable to get a day off to rest before having to play again.

The only injury news for this Western Conference clash deals with Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko who sprained his finger in the New York game and is listed as questionable although Kirilenko has mentioned that he thinks he should be able to play through the pain on Tuesday night.

Utah has an edge in just about every offensive category while Portland holds the edge in most of the defensive ones. Portland also rebounds slightly better, turns the ball over less, and has a stronger bench which could be a big edge if the Jazz do get tired from playing so many games recently.

Utah has covered the point spread in just 3 of their last 10 games while Portland has covered in 7 of their last 10 with all but one of those games as the favorite. Portland has also covered 6 of the last 10 meetings between these teams.

It will be interesting to see how Utah responds to the lack of preparation time and if the home court dominance in this series holds up for another game for those who plan on making an NBA betting play. Either way, it’s a playoff preview that you won’t want to miss.