Pick against the spread, over/under for Mavericks vs. Jazz on Christmas Day

The Utah Jazz (22-9) will play host to the Dallas Mavericks (15-16) on Christmas Day at Vivint Arena, with tipoff set for 10:30 p.m. ET. Dallas is coming off a 102-95 loss to the Bucks on Thursday, while the Jazz just took down the Minnesota Timberwolves 128-116 on Thursday as well.

DraftKings Sportsbook has the Jazz favored by a huge 12.5 points, priced at -720 on the moneyline. The banged-up Mavs are at +500 while the point total is set at 214.

Dallas is one of many teams decimated by COVID-19, with Luka Doncic, Reggie Bullock, Trey Burke, Josh Green, Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber, and JaQuori McLaughlin all in protocols at the moment. They’ll also be without Eugene Omoruyi (toe), and Kristaps Porzingis (toe) is day-to-day, not having played since December 19th.

Miraculously, the Jazz have been able dodge COVID-19, with no players in healthy and safety protocols.

Update — Porzingis (toe) is available to play. Dorian Finney-Smith (illness) has been ruled out.

Mavericks vs. Jazz, 10:30 p.m. ET

Pick ATS: Jazz -12.5 (-110)

Any way you slice it, a full-strength Jazz squad is all but guaranteed to steamroll a Mavericks team who is struggling to even put enough players in the lineup to still play the game. Luka Doncic hasn’t played since December 10th, missing time with an ankle injury and then entering the health and safety protocols. They’ll hope to have Porzingis back in the lineup, but even then they’ll be missing so many other players that it may just be too much to keep up with Utah. The Jazz should handle this game with a double-digit margin of victory, so pick them to win and cover.

Over/Under: Under 214 (-110)

It’s too easy to pick the under in almost any NBA game right now with so many players missing across the league. This one is no exception as the Mavs will likely look to play at a slow pace in hopes of stifling the Jazz offense.

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