Philadelphia will meet Utah here in Salt Lake City on Thursday night to open up a brand new month as the playoffs inch closer and closer with each and every passing day. This should be one of the best games in a small slate of NBA games here on Thursday night, one of the top teams in the league is playing a team on the bubble for the postseason as we get deeper into the second half of the season. Philadelphia has put together a campaign this year, and they sit towards the top of the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, Utah is in the second year of their rebuild and they have shown plenty of progress throughout the first half of the season and they find themselves hovering just below the .500 mark coming into this one. This game will tip off at 10pm EST and this will be the second meeting of the season between these two teams. Utah comes into this game as the betting favorite in their second game of the season against Philadelphia. They have already picked up one victory against the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this season.
Past Prediction Yesterday, the prediction was the Milwaukee Bucks covering the spread against the Portland Trail Blazers. Milwaukee ended up losing the game outright to Portland, and was unable to cover the spread. Utah will look to avoid being the second favorite in a row to lose a game to the underdog in outright fashion.
Tips For Betting Utah is favored by 4.5 points and the over/under is set at 238.5. The last time these two teams met they combined for less than 230 points. However, the Utah Jazz would’ve covered the 3.5 point spread with their double digit victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Utah has covered a 4.5 point spread in only two out of their last five games as they have lost three out of their last five games on the season. Philadelphia has only covered a 4.5 point spread as an underdog once in their last five games as they come into this game on a four game losing streak. Despite both teams struggling the point spread and the recent trend still favors the Utah Jazz in this game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night in Salt Lake City.
Looking at the trends for both of these teams it is worth noting that the Utah Jazz are 15-6 when playing at home. When Utah is the betting favorite in a game, their win percentage improves even more as they have won 10 out of 12. They have a solid track record of success when playing at home and when being favored this season. When they are playing at home, and they are the favorites to win the game, they come into this contest with a record of 7-0, as they are currently undefeated when those two metrics line up. They will look to grab an eighth consecutive victory here in this one on Thursday night against Philadelphia.
History Between These Two Teams This will be the second meeting of the season between these two teams, and the last time they met it was the Utah Jazz that came out on top on the road in Philadelphia. It was right after the new year as they met on January 6th and Utah came away with an 11 point victory against Philadelphia. Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton posted double-doubles to lead the Utah Jazz to a victory over a Philadelphia 76ers team that was without last year's Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid. Tyrese Maxey did play in that contest and he put up over 20 points but he will likely be unavailable for this game on Thursday night.
There are several players that featured in that game for Philadelphia that will likely be unavailable in this game. However, they should have Joel Embiid back in the lineup here on Thursday night in Utah. He is a huge difference maker, and he will look to lead Philadelphia to a much-needed victory over Utah on the road here in this one. Philadelphia will be looking to even up the season series while the Utah Jazz will look to complete the season sweep of Philadelphia throughout two games. This should be another thrilling, high scoring contest much like we received the first time these two teams met earlier this year in Philadelphia, both teams feature some of the best offensive players in the league.
Today’s Predictions This should be a thrilling contest between Philadelphia and Utah here on Thursday night in Salt Lake City. Both of these teams are in very different spots in the standings in their respective conferences coming into this game. The last time they got together, it was a competitive game throughout the entire entirety of the contest. You can certainly expect more of the same throughout this game on Thursday night as these two teams will meet for the second and final time in the regular season and there is plenty on the line for both of these teams here in this one in Salt Lake City.
Philadelphia comes into this game dealing with a laundry list of injuries as they will be missing several key players, which has likely led to them being marked as the underdog for this contest against Utah here on Thursday night. Meanwhile Utah has been relatively healthy leading into this game and they will have most of their superstars here in this one at home against a shorthanded Philadelphia team. That is why you should expect the Utah Jazz to come out on top in this game against the Philadelphia 76ers here on Thursday night at home. As missing key players, like Tyrese, Maxey will be a huge difference maker for Philadelphia throughout this contest.
The Pick: Utah Jazz -4.5 (-115) Picks given are the opinion of the writer, not Elitepickz pros. To get picks from some of the sharpest minds in the industry, sign up here and use code AB15 for 15% off any pass!
