Atlanta Hawks at Utah Jazz Betting Odds


Opening Line: Atlanta +5.5 / Utah -5.5 O/U 197

Time: 9 PM EST Monday February 22, 2010 on NBA TV

Tonight the streaking Utah Jazz face the Atlanta Hawks losers of 2 in a row. The Jazz have been on fire since before the All Star break, as they have won 4 straight and are 9-1 in their last 10 games. With their solid play they are only a .5 game back of the Denver Nuggets in the Northwest Division and they are in 3rd place in the Western Conference. The Hawks have lost 2 in a row and are only 5-5 in their last 10 games.

This season the Jazz are 22-7 at home and 33-18-3 ATS and the Hawks are 13-14 on the road and 33-21 ATS.

Both teams played yesterday, as the Hawks lost to the Golden State Warriors 108-104 and the Jazz beat the Portland Trailblazers 93-89 in OT.

Utah has won 17 of their last 19 games.

To say the Jazz have had the Hawks number in Utah is an understatement, as the Jazz have won 15 straight home games against the Hawks. The last time the Hawks beat the Jazz in Utah Bill Clinton was in his first year in the Oval Office.

As a team the Hawks are not great on the boards with a rebound differential of -0.9 rpg and they, especially C Al Horford (9.4 rpg) have to body up on Carlos Boozer (19.4 ppg 11.2 rpg), who had a monster game yesterday with 22 points and 23 boards.

The Hawks blew a 17 point lead yesterday and they can't play sloppy against the Jazz tonight of they will get killed.

The Hawks have dropped 2 in a row on the road and 8 of their last 12 away from Atlanta.

In the game between these 2 earlier this season in Atlanta the Hawks won and Deron Williams (18.3 ppg) and Carlos Boozer combined for 8 points in a 96-83 loss.

Even though the Jazz will likely get C Mehmet Okur (12.4 ppg 6.6 rpg) back tonight they may have to go without defensive ace Andrei Kirilenko (12.3 ppg 4.6 rpg), as he left yesterday's game with back spasms. Ak-47 has played great since becoming a starter again over a month ago shooting 60.4% from the field.

Both teams can score, but the team that can play solid defense will win this game.

Atlanta is -5 ATS in their last 7 road games, 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games as a road underdog, and has an Under record of 3-1-1 in their last 5 road games as an underdog.

Utah is 15-5-2 ATS in their last 22 home games, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games against teams with a losing road record, and has an Under record of 5-0 in their last 5 games.

Our Selection : This hasn't been the most sucessful west coast trip for the Hawks who have won only 1 of the 3 games. They weren't blown out in either of the losses and we expect them to be competitive here. A. Kirilenko is unlikely to dress tonight for the Jazz and we feel that without his scoring and that the Hawks will have some extra motivation to end this road trip on a winning note that they will be able to stay within the number. Take the Hawks +5


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