Cleveland Cavaliers at Utah Jazz Betting Preview

Opening Line: Pick O/U 196.5

Time: 10:30 PM EST Thursday January 14, 2010 on TNT

Tonight the Utah Jazz host the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers. The Jazz are tied for 3rd place in the Northwest Division with the Oklahoma City Thunder 3.5 games back of the Denver Nuggets, have won 2 games in a row and are 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Cavs are running away with the Central Division with a 12 game lead over the Chicago Bulls, have also won 2 in a row, and are 8-2 in their last 10 games.

This season the Jazz are 14-6 at home and 22-16 ATS and the Cavaliers are 16-7 on the road and 20-20 ATS.

In their last games the Jazz smoked the Miami Heat 118-89 on Monday night and the Cavs beat the Golden State Warriors 117-114 also on Monday night.

Tonight the Cavs are looking for their 5th straight win over the Jazz.

The Jazz are tough to beat at home and they will need good ball movement to beat the Cavs. The Jazz lead the NBA with 25.8 assists per game and when they fail to move the ball well they lose, as they are 0-8 when they do not have at least 23 assists this season. Deron Williams (19.6 ppg 9.7 assists per game) has to dish out well tonight for the Jazz to win.

King James (29.4 ppg) will get his points tonight, but he needs some help in the scoring department from Mo Williams (16.9 ppg) and Shaq (10.7 ppg).

Shaq and the frontcourt of the Cavs will have their hands full tonight inside, as the Jazz rank 3rd in the league averaging 46.3 ppg in the paint led by Carlos Boozer (19.2 ppg) and Mehmet Okur (12.6 ppg).

The Jazz perimeter players have to play solid defense tonight, as the Cavs lead the Eastern Conference in 3-point shooting percentage (41.3%).

Both teams are solid on the defensive end of the court, as the Cavs rank 4th in points allowed (94.3 ppg) and the Jazz rank 8th (96.8 ppg).

The Jazz need to rebound well in this game, as the Cavs are a solid team on the glass, as they have a rebounding differential of +4.3 rpg while the Jazz are at +1.0 rpg. Boozer is a legit guy on the boards averaging 10.4 rpg, but he will need some help tonight on the boards.

Utah is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 against teams in the Central Division, and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 against teams in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall, 5-2 ATS in their last 7 against teams in the Western Conference, and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games following a S.U. win.

Our Selection : The Jazz have been solid of late winning 3 of their 4 games, losing only to Memphis on the road by 2 as a 4 point dog. Their last two have been very impressive beating Dal on the road by 18 and and Miami at home by 29. Cavs in a bit of a tailspin, covering only 2 of their last 7. Take Utah at pick'em


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