Tough spot for the Utah Jazz on Monday night with the team coming off a crucial game against the Oklahoma City Thunder with whom their fighting tooth and nail with to secure the 4th seed in the Western Conference. Entering the bubble, Utah held a slim 1-game lead over OKC for the No. 4 slot and needed to win that game on Saturday to breathe a bit easier knowing they split with their Northwest Division rival earlier in the regular season. As for the current front runners of the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers are more or less spinning their wheels in Orlando with their playoff fate set. Preparing themselves mentally and physically for a second season run is the main priority. Still, it’s tough to envision them being able to match the Jazz’s intensity in this NBA betting spot with Utah likely to go all-out to prevent the Thunder from leapfrogging them in the standings.
This game will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, FL. Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET on Monday, August 3, 2020, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN. You can bet on NBA Odds at BookMaker.eu the remainder of the season.
Futures Odds Analysis
Online sportsbooks currently have the Los Angeles Lakers installed the odds-on +219 favorites to bring the title back to Tinseltown for the first time since 2010 when they defeated the Boston Celtics in seven games. It’s also near even money favorites to take down the Western Conference followed by the Clippers +170, Rockets +615 and Nuggets +1600. If you think the Jazz have it in them to make a run, you might want to entertain the thought of throwing some beer money on them at +8500 for the title and +4350 to come out of the West. A tough sell, but who knows how these teams truly react to playing in a bubble.
Head-To-Head Results
The Lakers have held the upper hand in the recent rivalry. LeBron James and company took both regular season meetings to move to 4-2 SU and 5-1 ATS in the last six overall confrontations. LA dominated the proceedings when the team’s first met back on October 25 when LBJ and Anthony Davis combined for 53 points, 12 assists, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks to hand the Jazz a 95-86 defeat as 3.5-point Staples center favorites. They then traveled to Salt Lake City and opened up a can cruising to the 121-96 outright win as laughable 2.5-point underdogs. LA outscored the Jazz in every quarter to log the emphatic 25-point triumph. The O/U split to move the under to 6-4 in the last 10.
Matchup to Watch
The Jazz were unable to keep up with the purple and gold on the glass in each regular season meeting. Davis, James and Dwight Howard combined for 21 of LA’s 42 overall caroms in the meeting at home, and then Rajon Rondo led the way in the skunking of the Jazz in the rematch with a team-high nine rebounds. But the biggest takeaway from the two regular season skirmishes was how readily open the paint was for the Lakers to dominate. In all, LA outscored the Jazz 92-72 down low. That doesn’t speak highly for Rudy Gobert and company who must rise to the occasion and find a way to prevent the Lakers from going HAM down low once again. That is if they want to win this game!
Injury Report
Though the absences of Avery Bradley personal and Rajon Rondo thumb sting, the only thing anyone cares about is the eye situated under “The Brow” of the big man All-Star. It was inadvertently poked by Michael Carter-Williams in a scrimmage with the Orlando Magic over the weekend. He didn’t practice early last week, but it’s possible it’ll be ready to go with over a week passing by since the mishap. Stay glued to the injury reports for confirmation. The NBA odds for all of the Lakers games have been taken off the board until news surfaces of his fitness. Bojan Bogdanovic remains out due to the wrist injury sustained in January that he went under the knife to fix in March after the league was shut down by the novel coronavirus.
NBA Odds Pick
Regardless of whether Davis suits up for this game or not, it’s going to be tough for me to back the Jazz in this premiere letdown spot. That matchup with the Thunder the game prior is huge, and Utah will without a doubt lay it all on the line to come out on top of that one. Though this game means relatively nothing to the Lakers, they seem to just enjoy beating up on the Jazz having owned the recent rivalry both SU and ATS. Utah being without its second leading scorer makes it all the more easy to contend with. This just might be the game LA goes all-out in since the games started to pick up in Orlando – gimme the Lake Show!
Prediction: Lakers 115, Jazz 105
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
