NBA Betting Guide for Thursday, December 9: Back The Streaking Jazz On The Road

We took a bad beat on the Miles Bridges assists prop as he just cashed the over with five assists on the night. Sometimes, the margins can be that thin, but the good news is we only risked a half unit on his prop. Today, we’ll revert to a more traditional play by backing a side on the Thursday card.

Let’s head to the City of Brotherly Love, where the Philadelphia 76ers host the Utah Jazz.

The Utah Jazz are streaking with five wins in five straight games. That should give them some confidence against a 76ers team that they’ve failed to defeat in their last four meetings on the road. However, it is a small sample size as Utah visits Philadelphia only once a season. The reality is that this is a much better Jazz team than the one that’s traveled to Philadelphia in recent years.

Another thing to remember is that Philadelphia often had Ben Simmons available for those games. Simmons finished second to Utah’s Rudy Gobert in the Defensive Player of the Year last season. With Simmons backing himself as the best defensive player in the league, I suspect there was some added motivation for him in those games. This time around, Simmons will not be on the court for the 76ers. And with this being Philadelphia’s third game in four nights, this is the perfect time to fade the home team.

Utah leads the league in efficiency with 113.5 points per 100 possessions. Defensively, Utah ranks fourth in allowing 103.5 points per 100 possessions. In comparison, the 76ers are 20th in allowing 106.3 points per 100 possessions. Last season, Philadelphia ranked second in this category. You can pretty much sum that up as the Simmons effect, as I feel a weary 76ers team will have too much to overcome in this spot against a hot Jazz team at the moment.

This point spread opened with Utah as a 2.5-point favorite. That number’s already up as high as -3.5 at some sportsbooks. While I still expect the 76ers to be a bit feisty in the game, I think the Jazz will be more concerned with coming away with the win instead of winning by the margin. As a result, I recommend laying a half-unit to bypass the spread and just back the Jazz on the money line at -148 odds.

Pick: Jazz ML -148 (risking a 1/2 unit)