Raptors vs. Jazz Prediction: NBA Odds, Point Spread
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Jeremy Perry
It’s a quiet Monday in the NBA with just three games on the card. One of those showdowns will be a Toronto Raptors visit to the Utah Jazz. The Raptors will be wrapping up their four-game, Western Conference road swing and they’ll also be in a back-to-back situation after playing at the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night. Will they be fatigued in their Monday showdown with the Jazz?
NBA Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The Toronto Raptors were 44-19 straight up and 33-29 against the spread going into Monday’s meeting with Utah. On the year, they are just 15-13 straight up against teams with a winning record and 14-14 ATS in those contests. The Raptors have played well in this series, winning three straight meetings and seven of the last eight overall.
The Jazz are 44-21 on the season and are a healthy 21-9 at home. However, they’ve lost four of their last five at home and there are some ugly losses in there. They lost as favorites of -5, -8.5, -2 and -7. They have dropped six of their last nine home contests.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors had been on a big-time roll, winning 17 of 18, but they’ve since cooled off. That streak ended with a thud as they lost three in a row. Although losses to Milwaukee and Denver are understandable, a home loss to Charlotte was surprising. The Raptors have since won two in a row, though, heading into their Sunday night affair with Sacramento.
Keep an eye on the injury news as the Raptors could be without Fred VanVleet and Marc Gasol in this contest. Both are getting closer to returning to action but it’s unclear if either will play. Norm Powell is back, though, and has been feasting with VanVleet out. Powell is averaging an incredible 27.3 points per game over his last four contests, including a career-high 37 in the team’s latest win on Thursday.
Utah Jazz
It’s hard to gauge just how good the Jazz are these days. At 41-22, there’s no question they’re a rock-solid team in the Western Conference, who currently holds the No. 4 seed. They also enter Monday’s game having won five in a row. However, this is a team that’s been riding the rollercoaster for a good month or so. From the start of December through mid-January, the Jazz won 19 of their 21 games. Since then, they’ve had streaks where they lost five in a row, won four in a row, lost four in a row and have now won five in a row. Momentum seems to turn on a dime for them.
One recent positive is that the team seems to finally be getting more out of Mike Conley Jr., who has not fit with this team as anticipated. After averaging just 8.8 points per game in January, he upped his number to 16.6 in February on 44.9 percent from the field and he’s up to 17.3 points per game with 51 percent shooting in March. He’s become a real asset from three as he’s making 3.0 threes per game this month. He’s a big key to this team’s success.