Utah Jazz vs San Antonio Spurs Prediction: Lowly Spurs take on up-and-down Jazz

The NBA Regular Season is in its last quarter of action and this means that we are nearing the Playoffs situation. The scenario is that the top six ranked teams in a Conference make it to the first round automatically while the seventh-to-tenth-spot teams compete for the last two remaining First Round spots. One of the contenders for both scenarios, the Utah Jazz takes on the San Antonio Spurs.

The Jazz enters the game after defeating the Thunder 120:119 during the Overtime as Lauri Markkanen dipped in 43 points and Walker Kessler collected 18 rebounds. They have won three of their last five games but have lost five of their last eight games. They have 30 wins and 31 losses, currently placed in 10th position which just keeps them in the Play-in hunt but they will need to develop a big winning streak to keep afloat. The Jazz has been unable to win consecutive games and hasn’t had more than two wins in a row for three and a half months.

Markkanen has eclipsed the 25 points mark during most of the games recently and he has been leading the offense for most parts. The team traded Mike Conley and Malik Beasley which has elevated both the minutes and role of Colin Sexton. Jordan Clarkson is a terrific offensive player and forms the backbone of the offense alongside Markkanen. The trouble is that the Jazz’s defense has been too vulnerable while their offense doesn’t have the same grip as it had earlier. Surely, an earlier window where they lost five in a row with a margin of five or fewer points is haunting them this deep in the season.

The depleted Spurs come into this game after a terrible 116:142 loss against the Mavericks as Malaki Branham scored 20+ points for the second time in a row.. This was their 15th loss in a row and this is their second instance of 10+ losses in a row. They have lost 20 of their last 21 matches because of which they have 46 losses and just 14 wins. This was an expected result from a team that doesn’t have the experience and the starpower to compete against elites and even low-ranked teams at this point.

The absence of Devin Vassell caused big ruptures to an offense that already lacked any depth. Malaki Branham has emerged as an amazing offensive player and maybe the squad can build something special around Keldon Johnson, Vassell, and Branham. Maybe these three are better suited as role players and the teams will be aggressively looking at the upcoming draft with the hopes of landing Victor Wembanyama. Let us see how this painful rebuild proceeds.

• Spurs: OUT: Khem Birch, Isaiah Roby, Devin Vassell, Romeo Langford. QUESTIONABLE: Tre Jones. PROBABLE: Jeremy Sochan;
• Jazz: Micah Potter, Collin Sexton. QUESTIONABLE: Rudy Gay, Kelly Olynyk.

• Expected Leading Scorers: Lauri Markkanen(30+ Points), Malaki Branham(20+ Points);
• Expected Leading Rebounders: Walker Kessler(10-13 Rebounds), Zach Collins(10-14 Rebounds);
• Expected Leading Playmaker: Talen Horton-Tucker(5+ Assists).

The Jazz has been inconsistent and their inability to stitch together a big winning streak has left them in tricky territories. For the Spurs, the season has been a dumpster fire but this was in the works before the season even began as they have their eyes set on the upcoming draft. It will be interesting to see how Jazz approaches this game against a highly struggling squad. I pick the Jazz to win this with a scoreline of 128:109.