basketball | Wednesday, December 28, 2022 11:36 AM (Revised at: Wednesday, December 28, 2022 11:43 AM)

Golden State Warriors vs Utah Jazz Best Bet: Shootout at Chase Center

Milan Stanojic

Golden State Warriors vs Utah Jazz Best Bet: Wednesday, December 28th

It’s high noon in Oakland as the Golden State Warriors take on the Utah Jazz at Chase Center in their third meeting of the season. They faced each other in this arena in late November where the Warriors got the 129-118 win. Their second encounter was in Salt Lake City where the Jazz celebrated a 124-123 victory. Both of those games saw a very high number of points, and I’m counting on a similar result here tonight.

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Golden State Warriors vs Utah Jazz Preview
Golden State Warriors vs Utah Jazz Best Bet

Golden State Warriors vs Utah Jazz Preview

Thu, Dec 29th. 02:00 (UK time)

The defending NBA champions are having quite a difficult season so far. They are schlepping in 10th place in the west in the late year with 17 wins and 18 losses under their belt. They have won 4 of their last 10 and are now on a 2-game winning streak, coming off a 110-105 home win against the Charlotte Hornets last night. Not a big deal, but Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole got into a groove, going for 29 and 24 points respectively. With Wiggins, Curry and Draymond out for tonight’s game, it’s going to be very important for tonight’s bet that these two continue scoring.

The Warriors have the fastest team in the league with a pace rating of 102.7 and are attempting 89.1 field goals per game. Their offence has been the best in terms of efficiency, but they are averaging 117.3 points per game. The Dubs love to let the 3-pointer fly, and even without their top scorers, they have been able to make a solid amount of threes per game during their last 5. Even better, they are playing a team that plays very little defence, so scoring should be much of a problem. That said, the Warriors are playing a back-to-back tonight, a situation in which they covered the spread in just 1 third of their games. The Dubs already have one of the worst defences in the NBA, allowing 117.3 points per game, so don’t expect much defence tonight either.

The Utah Jazz had an amazing start to the season, hovering around the top of the Western Conference, but they’ve since fallen down to earth. They are now 9th in the west with 19 wins and 17 losses, having won half of their last 10 games. They are coming off a 126-122 loss against the San Antonio Spurs. This will be the last of their 3-game road trip before heading back to Salt Lake City to take on the Miami Heat. The only player on their injury report is Kelly Olynyk, who is listed as ‘questionable’ due to an ankle injury.

The Jazz have quickly gone from a potential bottom-feeder before the start of the season to a potential playoff team. The biggest reason behind this has been their amazing offence. Head coach Will Hardy has managed to use what little talent the Jazz had left after the offseason and turn them into a legitimate Western Conference team. The Jazz are ranked 4th in offensive rating this season and are averaging 117.2 points per game. Their 3-point shooting has been outstanding, making 14.8 threes per game on 37.0%.

On the flip side, the Jazz have been a terrible defensive side all season, ranking among the lower-5 in the NBA in defensive rating, and allowing an average of 116.2 points per game. Their perimeter defence, however, was excellent, but it has fallen off in the last 5 games, allowing opponents to shoot 43.0% from beyond the arc.

Golden State Warriors vs Utah Jazz Best Bet

The bookmakers see the Jazz as slight favourites to take this one at 1.77 odds, whilst the Warriors are available at 2.55. As good as the Warriors have been at home this year with a record of 14-2 and 11-4-1 ATS, this isn’t the right moment to be backing them. They’re facing some serious injury issues right now, and they’re playing a back-to-back. The spread is at just 3 points and I simply don’t see it carrying any value.

However, they are facing a team that has been playing no defence whatsoever. I don’t expect either team to come out of the locker room tonight looking to improve their defensive stats, which is why I’m looking at the Over/Under for value. The line is set at 232.5 points, which is very high, but considering their style of play – it’s very reachable. I can easily see either or both of these sides going for 120 or more points. I’m taking the Over.