L.A. Lakers at Utah Jazz Betting Odds


Opening Betting Lines: Lakers +4.5 / Jazz -4.5 O/U 202

Time: 8 PM EST Saturday May 8, 2010 on ESPN

Tonight in a vital game for the home team the Utah Jazz host the L.A. Lakers. This is a must win game for the most part for the Jazz since no team in the history of the NBA has come back to win a playoff series after losing the first 3 games.

The Jazz had one of the best home record this season and to win tonight they have to shoot the rock better than they did in Game 2 AND play much better defense. In Game 2 the Jazz shot 39.6% from the field and they allowed the Lakers to shoot 50.6% from the floor.

This season the Jazz were 32-9 at home and 49-30-3 ATS and the Lakers were 23-18 on the road and 34-46-2 ATS.

The Jazz were out-rebounded by 18 boards in Game 1 and their interior defense struggled, as the Lakers' big men of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol combined to score 39 points and grab 29 rebounds. Overall the Lakers scored 64 points in the paint and the Jazz have to force the Lakers to take more outside shots.

Even though the Lakers only shot 23.5% from beyond the 3-point arc and committed 20 turnovers they could not be stopped inside and had way to many easy shots in the paint.

Deron Williams has to rebound from a poor performance in Game 2 when he only scored 15 points on 4/16 shooting.

Utah 6th man Paul Milsap had a big Game 2 going for 26 points and 11 rebounds, but the rest of the Utah bench only had a grand total of 6 points.

Kobe Bryant was the high scorer for the Lakers in Game 2 going for 30 points, but he will get his points and the Jazz have to keep Bynum and Gasol from having big scoring games or they will be in a 0-3 hole in this series.

Betting Trends

L.A. is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 road games, 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games as a road underdog, and has an Over record of 5-1 in their last 6 games.

Utah is 18-6-2 ATS in their last 26 home games, 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 playoff games as a favorite, and has an Over record of 5-0 in their last 5 games.

In the last 4 games between the Jazz and Lakers in Utah the total has gone Under every time.

Our Selection : The Home team has won 6 of the last 7 in this series. With Utah's home record and Lakers average play on the road this season, I don't see how this trend is going to change. Take the Jazz -4.5 at Sportsbetting.com.


Future Betting Odds

NBA Handicapping

Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat Odds 6-12
The Mavs are up 3-2 in this series heading to South Beach and for the Heat to force Game 7 they will have to play better in the 4th quarter, especially LeBron James. 5Dimes has the hometown Heat as 5-point favorites in Game 6 with a total of 187.

NBA Toolbox

Sportsbooks