basketball | Thursday, January 5, 2023 11:33 AM

Houston Rockets vs Utah Jazz Best Bet: Utah To Register Important Road Win

Sam Cox

Houston Rockets vs Utah Jazz Best Bet: Thursday, January 5th

The 19-21 Utah Jazz are favoured by six points on the road against the 10-28 Houston Rockets on Thursday night. Utah has covered more often than not as an away team this season, but the Jazz have an ugly 5-12 record against the spread as a favourite.

Houston is just 17-19-2 ATS on the season, and has suffered five consecutive defeats, four of which were by hefty margins.

This is the second night of a back-to-back for the hosts after losing by 11 points to the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday. Utah has a rest advantage here after narrowly losing to the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night after Lauri Markkanen’s buzzer beater was ruled out.

Jae’Sean Tate is the only Rocket set to be unavailable for this game. Collin Sexton is the only Utah player to appear on the injury report.

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Houston Rockets vs Utah Jazz Preview
Houston Rockets vs Utah Jazz Best Bet

Houston Rockets vs Utah Jazz Preview

Fri, Jan 06. 01:10 (UK time)

These are two of the NBA’s six-weakest defences over the last 10 games. Both rank in the bottom four by defensive rating for the season. Utah, however, have the third-best offence overall, and Houston has sufficient talent on the offensive end to do damage against this flawed Jazz defence.

As such, backing the over in this game just seems to make sense. The over has cashed in 54% of Utah’s games in 2022-23, but it has been a difficult market to call when the Rockets are involved. As a result, it is worth going towards an alternate lower line and then taking the over. This number, which is the lowest available, has been passed by the Jazz in six of their last seven and four of six for the Rockets.

At the start of this season, this would have been projected as an even matchup with both in the sweepstakes for Victor Wembanyama. It has transpired that the Jazz are a playoff contender, while Houston are again heading to the depths of the lottery.

Houston Rockets vs Utah Jazz Best Bet

By net rating, the Jazz are a notch above league average. Houston is among the league’s worst teams. Utah has been enduring something of a blip lately, but they have still done a decent job at keeping games close. The Jazz’s powerful offence is dependent on getting up a lot of outside shots (third-most in the NBA), and no team concedes more three-pointers than the Rockets.

Houston has lost four of its five games with a rest disadvantage, as is the case on Thursday night. Utah has only gone 7-14 on the road this season, but their offence is set up to enjoy success against this Rockets team. These teams have won one game apiece in the season series to date – back Utah to claim the third and final matchup.