The 15-29 Jazz will host the second seeded San Antonio Spurs tonight. This will be an uphill climb; the Spurs are 30-14 and are ahead of schedule in their development of their young pieces. They’re already looking like a scary playoff contender despite Victor Wembanyama’s infantile game. Wembanyama’s improving at a scary pace on an annual basis, but still has a ways to go before he’ll be able to turn his tremendous physical tools into an unstoppable basketball machine.
The Spurs are currently –675 Moneyline favorites at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the point total set to 236.5, which is the second highest on the slate tonight. Below, I’ll break down tonight’s matchup and offer my prediction.
San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz preview, prediction
The Jazz pulled out a surprising win against the Minnesota Timberwolves in their last game, which stopped their bleeding and improved their record in their last ten games to 3-7. It was a narrow 5 point victory despite Anthony Edwards’ heroics. Despite their win over another good team, I’m having trouble envisioning them repeating this tonight against the Spurs. Keyonte George, who recently went off for a massive 43 points alongside six triples in Utah’s narrow victory over the Wolves, is Questionable tonight with a forearm injury. George has been one of the bright spots for the Jazz roster this season; he’s a strong contender for MIP and has been putting up an incredible 24.4 PPG with 6.7 APG. Additionally, Lauri Markkanen will unsurprisingly miss another game as he continues his reconditioning.
The Spurs are in a good spot to put away this game; every game in the West is a must-win, and the Spurs will be at full strength tonight. They’ve gotten a lot of production out of their star back court in De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle, the latter of whom has had a strong second-year campaign befitting the potential he flashed as a rookie. Castle is still struggling mightily with his FT% and 3P%, but he’s playing winning basketball currently and has increased his statistical output in nearly every category except for the aforementioned ones.
Spurs at Jazz pick, best bet
Best bet: O 236.5
The Jazz offer little resistance to opposing teams, and tonight will be no different. The Jazz are still the worst defense in the league, conceding 114.4 PPG per-100 possesssions. This is a low mark that has been the case with this Utah team for a few years now. Nothing will change tonight as the Spurs will hang up plenty of points on this feeble defense.
