The Portland Trail Blazers (24-28) travel to Salt Lake City to play the Utah Jazz (32-18) Friday at the Vivint Smart Home Arena at 10:30 p.m. ET. We analyze the Trail Blazers-Jazz odds and lines, with NBA betting advice and tips around the matchup.
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Trail Blazers at Jazz: Key injuries
Trail Blazers
- SF Nasir Little (ankle) questionable
- C Jusuf Nurkic (leg) out
- SG Rodney Hood (Achilles) out
- PF Zach Collins (shoulder) out
Trail Blazers at Jazz: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips
NBA odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Prediction
Blazers 117, Jazz 111
Moneyline (ML)
The Jazz (-385) are in the midst of a season-high five-game losing skid while the Blazers have won five of their last six games to play themselves back into playoff contention. Portland is the current 9-seed and 2.5 games back of the 8-seed Memphis Grizzlies so every game is a must-win moving forward.
Blazers PG Damian Lillard has steamrolled the Jazz in his first two games against them this season, as he’s averaging 42.5 points, and 10 assists per game, on a .540 field-goal percentage and .571 3-point percentage. At this point, Lillard’s elite production can be relied upon but the aspect of Blazers-Jazz I find most interesting is C Hassan Whiteside canceling out Rudy Gobert‘sproduction. Here’s a look at their head-to-head comparison:
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Place a smaller wager on the BLAZERS +300. New to sports betting? Bet $50 on the Blazers to earn a profit of $150 if they win outright.
Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
The season series is split between these two teams with both winning straight up and against the spread at home. Based on the spread trends, the edge goes to the Jazz. Utah is 8-4 ATS when laying 7.5-9.5 points and Portland is 1-5 ATS when getting 7.5-9.5 points. It’s troubling that the Blazers are just 2-6 ATS in the last eight meetings in Utah, but, the Jazz are 0-5-1 ATS in their last six games overall. If you like the Blazers to win, then I LOVE BLAZERS +8.5 (-106).
Over/Under (O/U)
The OVER 226.5 (-110) is a fine play in Blazers-Jazz but it’s only a lean and not a like. I’m inclined to take the Over here because their combined Over/Under record is 55-47, the Over has cashed in three straight Blazers-Jazz games and in nine of the last 10 Blazers games. What gives me pause is the officiating crew’s combined O/U record of 53-60 and their average total of 218.8 being well below this game’s total of 226.5.
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