Utah clinched the Northwest Division again in 2008 but the NBA betting public are slow to back the Jazz as the Rockets are a formidable force to face in the first round.
It was a new season but the same result for the Utah Jazz. For the second straight season the Jazz won the Northwest Division and clinched the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
Another division title has earned them a date with the Houston Rockets in the opening round of the playoffs – again. And just to make sure everything is exactly the same, the Rockets finished with a better record than Utah and despite having the lower seed will have home-court advantage. Now all Utah fans can hope for is for is that the result of this year’s series will mirror last year’s outcome when the Jazz knocked off the Rockets in seven games.
The only part of the rehashed scenario that the Jazz might want to have adjusted would be earning home-court advantage for a change. No team in the Association was better at home than the Jazz were this season. Surrounded by the comforts of EnergySolutions Arena, the Jazz were a glittering 37-4 straight up and 46-36-0 betting against the spread on the NBA odds. It was a far different story on the road though, where Utah posted a miserable 17-24 record straight up.
If Utah hopes to get past Houston once again this year the biggest pieces of the puzzle will have to be Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur. Boozer and Williams were both double-double machines this season as Boozer averaged 21.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, while Williams was good for 18.8 points and 10.5 assists a night. Okur sometime gets lost in the shuffle when talking about the Jazz, but he can chip in with clutch points and rebounds when needed.
Beyond Utah’s three big guns, there is still plenty of firepower and hard-nosed grit. Ronnie Brewer and Andrei Kirilenko round out the Jazz’s starting five and both bring solid skills to the table. Brewer shot a solid 55 percent during the regular season and can come up big when called upon, while AK-47 put last year’s dud of a season behind him and played solid defense – which is all Utah can ask of him.
Utah’s hidden strength may be their underrated bench, which could earn them some respect on the NBA betting lines when it comes to futures basketball playoff odds as a real dark horse contender. Paul Milsap and Matt Harpring give Jerry Sloan some great matchup options off the bench, while Kyle Korver – who was acquired from Philadelphia midway through the season – gives Utah the three-point specialist that every team needs to be competitive in the postseason.
