The Los Angeles Lakers (31-44) travel to Utah to take on the Jazz (45-31) on Thursday night.
The Lakers’ most recent loss against Dallas pushed them out of the play-in tournament. However, a San Antonio defeat placed them back in the tournament as they now sit 10th in the West standings. It goes without saying that just about every game remaining on their schedules qualifies as a must-win.
Utah is laboring right now. The Jazz have dropped five consecutive games, including a recent frustrating 121-115 loss against the Clippers in L.A.
The Lakers lead the season series 2-0 with the Jazz. Utah will look to salvage a victory on Thursday against Los Angeles.
Tip-off is scheduled for 10:00 P.M. EST at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.
We should be in for a close and interesting match! Let’s take a look at the best NBA betting odds tonight.
Lakers at Jazz Betting Stats
Los Angeles Lakers Stats
The Lakers are 3-7 over the course of their past ten games and are in the midst of a three-game losing streak leading into Thursday’s action. The Mavericks dominated them on Tuesday in Dallas.
Luka Doncic’s 34/12/12 triple-double led Dallas to a commanding 128-110 victory. The Lakers, who were without LeBron James, were led by Malik Monk, who scored 28 points, 10-16 shooting from the field, and six three-pointers. Russell Westbrook added 25 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
Although Los Angeles played a fairly respectable game from an offensive standpoint, they had no answer for Doncic and the Mavs’ offensive explosion. And that has been the case all season long.
According to the betting stats NBA, L.A. has a decent offense that is capable of winning games. However, their defense tends to lack in just about every game, which places a lot of pressure on them to score an absurd amount of points on a nightly basis.
The Lakers’ main goal over the offseason should be adding defensive help. But for now, they will focus on trying to sneak into the West postseason picture.
Utah Jazz Stats
The Jazz are going through it right now. It looked as if they were on track to snap their losing streak when they were leading the Clippers by almost 20 points at halftime on Tuesday. But Paul George and Los Angeles stormed back to pull off the home victory.
George scored 34 points in his debut after returning from his December injury. Utah was led by Donovan Mitchel’s 33 points. Mike Conley added 19 points in the loss.
The Jazz posted a quality performance in the first half of play. But it goes without saying that the wheels fell off in the second half.
Utah has now dropped five straight contests and are on the verge of being forced to join the play-in tournament. They are currently clinging to the six seed in the West, but Minnesota is just a couple of games behind them.
The Jazz need to turn things around quickly if they want to avoid the play-in games.
Matchup Information
Lakers at Jazz Betting Trends
- Los Angeles is 31-44 ATS this season.
- Utah is 31-43-2 ATS this year.
- The Jazz are 16-20-1 ATS at their home arena.
- The Lakers are 15-22 ATS on the road.
- Utah is 29-38-1 ATS as a favorite.
- Los Angeles is 16-18 ATS as an underdog.
Lakers at Jazz Betting Prediction
The Jazz are listed as heavy favorites according to the majority of top sportsbooks. They are certainly the popular selection amongst NBA expert picks. The fact of the matter is that these are two teams playing bad basketball right now.
In the end, I do believe that Utah is a good team. However, they are slumping without question as of late.
The Jazz should be able to snap their lengthy losing streak on Thursday, but I like the Lakers as the spread selection. They should be able to keep the score somewhat close until the final minutes of regulation.
Take the Los Angeles Lakers on the spread, but bet the Utah Jazz on the moneyline.
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