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The NBA regular season continues with games on Monday. The Utah Jazz will hit the road and face off against the Detroit Pistons. It's time to continue our NBA odds series and make a Jazz-Pistons prediction and pick.
These two teams have had drastically different starts to the season. The Utah Jazz have a record of 28-12 but are coming off back to back losses. While the Detroit Pistons are only 8-30, they are coming off a win. This should be a lopsided match up between two teams of different calibers.
Here are the Jazz-Pistons NBA odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
NBA Odds: Jazz-Pistons Odds
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Utah Jazz: -11 (-110)
Detroit Pistons: +11 (-110)
Over: 224.5 (-110)
Under: 224.5 (-110)
Why The Jazz Could Cover The Spread
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The Utah Jazz have been a very competitive team this season. Through their first 40 games they have managed to win 28 and lose only 12. In spite of their success, they are coming off back to back losses. Their most recent defeat came at the hands of the Indiana Pacers by 12. While injuries and COVID have certainly affected this team, their recent struggle is somewhat worrying. Utah will look to bounce back on Monday night as they face their weakest opponent of the season. The Jazz should be able to make relatively light work of the Pistons. In order for Utah to dominate, however, they will need to improve on their most recent performances.
In their loss to the Pacers, the Jazz came up short in a few key statistics. While the Pacers had a slight edge in scoring, the bigger contrast in this game came in assists and turnovers. The Pacers dished out 30 assists in that game, while the Jazz only had 20. Indiana was much better at moving the ball around and creating high quality shots for their players. Additionally, the Jazz had four more turnovers than the Pacers. This combination of factors is a big reason that Utah came up short. If Utah wants to crush the Pistons they need to take better care of the ball, and at the same time they need to effectively pass the ball.
COVID and injuries are both currently affecting this Utah Jazz team. The Jazz currently have three players in the league's health and safety protocols. Headlining the unavailable players are Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles. These two starters for the Jazz are hugely important and their loss is crippling. If neither of these guys are available for Monday's match up then the Jazz could struggle to cover the spread. This should be an interesting one, regardless of what happens.
Why The Pistons Could Cover The Spread
The Detroit Pistons have quite possibly been the worst team in basketball. Through their first 38 games they have only won 8 and have lost a staggering 30 games. Their win percentage is just over 21%, which is abysmal. However, the Pistons did manage to snag one of their eight wins in their last game. Detroit is coming off a 5 point victory over the Orlando Magic. The clash of the two worst teams in basketball was everything it was hyped up to be. As predicted, both teams played poorly, and the Pistons were actually able to mount a comeback and win the game. They will need to step things up as they take on the Jazz on Monday.
While it was an encouraging sight to see Detroit win a game, they were playing against possibly the only worse team in the league. Neither team was particularly efficient from the field. Numbers were nearly even across the board. However, where Detroit showed some promise was with their points in the paint. The Pistons scored 52 points in the paint compared to only 28 from Orlando. This indicates that Detroit was taking and making higher quality shots than the Magic. This is something they will need to do if they want to make Monday's match close.
Many teams are currently suffering from unavailable players due to both COVID and injuries, and the Pistons are no exception. Detroit currently has five players listed on their injury report, one of which is due to COVID. Kelly Olynyk and Jerami Grant both remain out with injuries. Frank Jackson was recently placed in the league's health and safety protocols. With that said, most of the key contributors for this Detroit team remain active and will play on Monday.
Final Jazz-Pistons Prediction & Pick
The Utah Jazz are a much better team than the Detroit Pistons. However, with such a wide spread the injuries and unavailable players somewhat complicate things. Even though the Pistons won their last game, that should be taken with a grain of salt. In the two games prior they lost by 29 and 30. Monday's match should be more reminiscent of those two games than the Pistons last. Pick the Jazz to win and cover.
FINAL JAZZ-PISTONS PICK: Utah Jazz -11 (-110)
FINAL JAZZ-PISTONS SCORE PREDICTION: Jazz 120 – Pistons 95
