Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Utah Jazz NBA Pick

NBA Betting Trends

Oklahoma City extended its current winning streak to four games with Sunday’s 97-69 thrashing of Phoenix as an 8.5-point road favorite. The total stayed UNDER the 205-point line after going OVER in four of its previous five games. The Thunder are now 39-12 straight-up overall and a very profitable 31-18-2 against the spread. They have gone 16-9 SU on the road this season and 13-10-2 ATS.

The big question mark for this game is the health of Kevin Martin, who missed Sunday’s game against the Suns with flu-like symptoms. He should be ready to go on Tuesday night, but remains questionable on the latest injury list. Nonetheless, the Thunder are always a tough team to contend with as long as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are in the lineup. Durant leads the team in scoring with 28.9 points a game while Westbrook is the team leader in assists (8.1) and steals (2.0) while scoring an average of 22.5 points a game.

Utah is clinging to the seventh spot in the West and could be a potential first-round matchup for Thunder in the playoffs if things stay the way they are today. The Jazz have lost their last two games both SU and ATS to fall to 28-24 SU and 24-27-1 ATS. They return home where they are 5-2 SU in their last seven games and 19-6 SU overall. Utah is 15-10 ATS at home this season and the total has stayed UNDER in four of their last six games overall.

The only injury concern for Utah is Gordon Hayward, who remains questionable with a shoulder injury he sustained in last January. In his place are four other players scoring in double figures including Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. Jefferson leads the team with 17.4 points and 9.5 rebounds a game while Millsap is scoring and additional 14.9 points and pulling down 7.3 rebounds a game. The Jazz as a whole are averaging 98.1 points a game while giving-up 98.8 points a game to their opponents.

Prediction

Utah needs this game much more than the Thunder but it has just one SU win in the last seven meetings. There is nothing to make me think that things will be different this time around, especially with the way Oklahoma City has been playing of late. The free NBA pick in this matchup is the Thunder minus the five points on the road.

Oklahoma City 104 Utah 96