Jazz Singing the Blues – Charlotte at Utah
Charlotte Bobcats (19-28 SU, 28-19 ATS) at Utah Jazz (26-22 SU, 23-25 ATS)
BetUS NBA Basketball Betting Odds: UTAH -8.5, Total 194.5
Here are some of the NBA pro basketball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* CHAR has covered eight of its last 10 games
* CHAR has covered four of its last six road games * CHAR has lost 16 of its last 22 road games SU
* UTAH has covered one of its last eight games
* UTAH has lost five of its last six games SU
* UTAH has played 13 of its last 17 games OVER the total
* UTAH has covered one of its last five home games
* UTAH has won eight of its last ten home games SU
* UTAH has played four of its last five home games OVER the total
Also…
* CHAR has won and covered four of its last six games
* Seven of the last nine meetings have gone OVER the total
* UTAH has had the shooting edge in four of the last five meetings
* UTAH has had the rebounding edge in six of the last seven meetings
* CHAR has made more three-pointers in four of the last six meetings
The Utah Jazz are going through a particularly unpleasant streak of games lately. In their last five outings they have beaten only the Oklahoma City Thunder, and they have covered just one of their last eight games. It’s bad enough that Utah has been playing without Carlos Boozer, their All-Star power forward who is going to be out until at least the All-Star break. That thinned their bench a little, because Paul Millsap, who has done a yeoman’s job, has to start. Now they are playing without Andrei Kirilenko, who has had surgery on his right ankle, and should be out three weeks at a minimum.
Utah has a 2-8 record this season when they are playing without Kirilenko and either Deron Williams or Boozer. Since the do-everything forward went down with the latest injury, they have gone 1-5. After the 122-108 loss to Portland on Saturday, point guard Williams said, “We come out soft, teams push us around, we don’t push back, we don’t fight back, we just lay down like this.”
Charlotte is also suffering the effects of losing a key player.
Gerald Wallace suffered a collapsed lung and broken rib against the Lakers last Wednesday, and is still in Los Angeles, having just been released from the hospital and scheduled to meet with a cardio-thoracic surgeon today. He has not been cleared to fly back to Charlotte, and it could be up to a month before he could play. Without him, the Bobcats were drubbed by Portland (88-74) and Denver (110-99) on this road trip.
They also saw their eight-game covering streak come to a halt after Wallace left the lineup.
Things often run in cycles. Charlotte may have had a good run going, but there are signs that might be reversing itself. When it comes down to it, you may want to look to the team that can rebound better from the personnel loss. When Jason Richardson was traded, Wallace became that much more important from the offensive end. Adam Morrison has made two starts in a row, and he has given Charlotte very little (nine points, two rebounds). Utah has generally been better at improvising after player losses. Plus, there’s a little revenge motive, as Charlotte beat Utah 104-96 at the Bobcats Arena on November 14, when Utah was without Williams, Kirilenko, AND Mehmet Okur.
We will lay the points with Utah, the 8.5-point favorite in the BetUS Sportsbook NBA pro basketball sports betting odds.
