NBA Betting Preview: Golden State Warriors vs. Utah Jazz

Happy New Year, everyone! Hopefully, we can start 2022 better than we finished 2021. All in all, it was a positive NBA campaign for us in terms of units at the betting window. We’ll aim to keep things going in the same direction for the new calendar year. On Saturday, the NBA has six games on the schedule, and thankfully, we don’t have any postponements.

Let’s head to the beehive state where the Jazz will host the Warriors.

I wonder if there’s a bit of a big brother vs. little brother rivalry between the Golden State Warriors and the Utah Jazz. After all, I think Utah’s taken a page out of the Warriors’ book in terms of how they set up their team. Utah’s game plan is to assemble and develop players who can stand out on the perimeter and hoist up three-pointers. Utah ranks second with 41.2 three-point attempts per game, but it ranks first with 15 three-point field goals per outing. Interestingly enough, the Warriors are right behind as they rank third with 40.4 three-point attempts and second with 14.8 three-point field goals per game.

I suspect we could be in for quite a show when these squads meet again on Saturday night. I think there’s a healthy competition between the shooters on both teams as it’s almost like they’re saying to one another, “Anything you can do, I can do better!”. As a result, I’m not surprised to learn that the total’s gone over in eight of the past ten meetings between the two teams. Moreover, the over is also on a 7-0 run coming in this game.

Boxing fans are well familiar with the phrase that styles make fights. I think that could be applied here, considering that Golden State tends to play a bit differently against the better teams in the league. The total is 22-11-1 to the under in Warriors’ games this season. However, in their last four games against teams above .500, the over is on a 4-0 run.

We could see some New Year’s Day fireworks when these teams meet at the Vivint Arena. Thus, I recommend a play on the over if you can find an alternate total of 222.5 at -118 or better.

Pick: Over 222.5 (-118)

All NBA predictions and picks are courtesy of SportsGrid.