basketball | Monday, March 27, 2023 10:30 AM

Utah Jazz vs Phoenix Suns Best Bet: Suns To Overcome Tanking Jazz

Sam Cox

Utah Jazz vs Phoenix Suns Best Bet: Monday, March 27th

The Phoenix Suns sit 39-35 ahead of their trip to Salt Lake City to face the 35-39 Utah Jazz on Monday night. Phoenix has won two of its last eight, and remains without Deandre Ayton and Kevin Durant. They are still favoured by a few field goals over Utah, however, with the Jazz on a 4-8 run since late February.

Utah is not exactly prioritising the Play-In places. Collin Sexton has been out for a prolonged period. Rudy Gay, Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen have all missed multiple games. They have suffered three consecutive heavy losses, with Simone Fontecchio, Talen Horton-Tucker and Ochai Agbaji all receiving starts.

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Utah Jazz vs Phoenix Suns Preview
Utah Jazz vs Phoenix Suns Best Bet

Utah Jazz vs Phoenix Suns Preview

Tue, Mar 28. 02:10 (UK time)

Despite generally being formidable on their home court, the Jazz are just 9-15-1 against the spread when favoured in Salt Lake. Phoenix hasn’t been great as a road dog (9-11-1), but they enter this game off a significant win against the Philadelphia 76ers, and they have plenty to play for with the Clippers breathing down their neck for the fourth seed in the Western Conference.

Maintaining home floor advantage for the first round could prove invaluable, with the Clips or Warriors as the most probable matchups.

These teams haven’t matched up since November. Their two contests fell less than a week apart, and they claimed one win apiece. A lot has altered for both ballclubs since then, however, with Utah sliding down the standings and Phoenix forcing their way into the top four.

The Jazz dealt away multiple rotation pieces at the deadline, while the Suns made one of the biggest trades in NBA history.

As a result, the season-long data on these teams doesn’t tell us a great deal. Instead, the post All-Star numbers are indicative of where they are at. Phoenix is ninth in net rating over that span, playing solid basketball at both ends. Utah is in the bottom seven in net rating.

For the season, the Jazz are -7 per 100 possessions in non-Markkanen minutes, which obviously includes a long period where their depth was far better than it is at the moment. Utah has been a sub-.500 team for several months.

Utah Jazz vs Phoenix Suns Best Bet

Devin Booker has been playing at an MVP level since coming back from injury, and the Suns are an elite team in his minutes. Even without Durant and Ayton, they are a much better team than this version of the Jazz.

In Phoenix’s seven wins since the break, they have covered this number on five occasions. If the role players hit their shots, this game could be all over by the third quarter.