NBA: Utah Jazz vs. Atlanta Hawks Preview, Odds, Prediction

Utah Jazz travels to Georgia, to meet with the Atlanta Hawks this Thursday night. The home team had a rough last night, playing in Brooklyn with the Nets, who won that match. Meanwhile, the Jazz’s schedule is a bit odd with them visiting this part of the USA recently (Milwaukee, Chicago), then got back home, and once again traveled back here. With six wins and one defeat, Jazz looks confident, which can’t be said for the Hawks, whose results are inconsistent.

Preview

Utah Jazz (6-1, -115) have back-to-back wins and plan to keep the triumphant pace. The Jazz defeated the champions in Milwaukee, 107-95, and after that, posted a victory at home to the Sacramento Kings, 119-113. They had to dig deep against the team from Sacramento, who came to Utah without any pressure, prepared to fight until the very end.

Donovan Mitchell had 36 points, while Mike Conley scored 30, and these two massacred the Kings with 11 long-distance hits. Conley was especially in the mood with six threes in nine attempts.

Also, Bojan Bogdanovic with 20 and Rudy Gobert with 12 buckets and 20 boards need to be credited, as they had superb stretches during the match. Hassan Whiteside proved to be an excellent backup center with nine points and 12 boards in 15 minutes of play. He and Gobert destroyed the Kings having 59 rebounds compared to 38 of the guests.

Atlanta Hawks (4-4, +100) lost in Brooklyn last night, which was their third defeat in the previous four matches. For some, this isn’t a big deal, but others believe that it is time for setting off all the alarms in Georgia. Truth to be told, the Hawks had a rough schedule, playing on the road four times in five events.

A loss against the Nets happened because of a lousy third period, in which the Hawks scored only 20 buckets but allowed 34. Also, they didn’t have any solution on how to stop the Nets’ three-point shooting as the hosts dropped 22 downtown hits.

Nate McMillan’s guys once again had the aerial advantage, outrebounding the rivals, 52-42, but in this case, that edge couldn’t be capitalized. Trae Young did score 21 points but with a poor shooting percentage, 6-for-22. Young was one board short of a triple-double with nine boards and 10 dimes. Kevin Huerter had a team-high 26 buckets.

Head to Head Games

The Jazz easily won both games last year, in Salt Lake City, 116-92, and in Georgia, 112-91.

Prediction

The line for the total in this game is 221.5 points. Utah is one of the best defensive units in the league, and on the other side, the Hawks tend to play much better defense since McMillan took over the team, event though we didn’t see that in recent times. Our pick here is Under, because five of the previous six matches the Jazz played on the road ended like that. Also, it seems that the Hawks can’t find a solution for their defense, as they didn’t go above 92 points in two games last year. Plus, the hosts will be tired. The odds are -110, which is great, and we should try it.

Pick: Under 221.5 points