Utah Jazz vs Dallas Mavericks: Mavericks can have a painful time against the high-scoring Jazz

Merry Christmas to all! The cursed COVID-19 has dampened the Christmas table of the NBA as major superstars and key players in rotation are missing from the rosters for these much-awaited Holiday season tilts. Still, bookmakers, bettors, tipsters, and readers will rack their brains over predicting the games between multiple squads throughout the season. And here we are discussing the game between the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks. Jazz are one of the best teams in the league with 22 wins and nine losses while the Mavericks have 16 losses and 15 wins, losing two of the last three games without Porzingis and Doncic. Can Dallas beat the odds that are humongous against them? For a quick overview, jump to “Notes” section. For game and total prediction, go to “Expert Betting Tips”.

Feisty Mavs, clinical Jazz

Jazz can run rampage: The scary thing about Utah's team is that most of their wins this season have been by 10 points or more and an advantage of 15+ has been commonplace. Jazz takes over the game from the tip-off and by the half-time they take huge leads, which is why late in the game they can afford to miss some shots because their lead has ballooned each quarter during many games. The Jazz has a vast reserve of scorers and sometimes as much as six of their scorers can cross the 15 points mark which is a scary issue for the opponents. With Mitchell, Ingles, and Conley, the team has three big-time playmakers while the rest of the unit can cover ground on scoring both from perimeter and inside.

Mavericks keep on fighting: Gotta give credit where it is due, Jason Kidd’s coached Mavs are feisty, they don’t give up that easily. It is their defense which keeps them in many games, as except Timberwolves, no team has been able to score more than 106(In Regulation) in the last ten games. Also, the Porzingis-less Mavs held the last opponents to 102 points which is commendable especially when the team limited the Bucks to such a score. The Mavs’ offense has compiled some 110+ points even without Doncic but the likelihood of that has gone down understandably.

Match-ups: Rudy Gobert will create problems for the Mavericks on both ends of the floor. The Mavericks will potentially have Porzingis for this game and he and Powell can keep Gobert off the board, although still he can get about 15 here. With Mitchell, Conley, Ingles, and Clarkson, the Utah Jazz has the Mavericks heavily outmatched who have relied on Jalen Brunson after Tim Hardaway has also gone away. At wing and Forward, Dorian Finney-Smith and Sterling Brown will have their hands full against Bogdanovic and O’Neale. Overall, the bench of the Jazz can outmatch the Mavericks and the Mavericks are beat when it comes to multiple match-ups, except the big Forward as Porzingis is a high-yielding option.

Notes

Here are some quick-hitter related to the game.

• Jazz has compiled 128, 112, 103, 126, 124 in the last five games;
• Jazz have given up 116, 102,109, 128, 103 in the last five matches;
• Mavericks have scored 95, 114, 105, 104(OT), 120 in the last five games;
• Jazz has allowed 102, 102, 111, 107(OT), 96 in the last five games;
• Jazz has won 10 out of their last 12 games. They have won three out of their last five home game fixtures;
• Mavericks have lost three out of the last four games. They were without both Porzingis and Doncic in two of the losses;
• Sterling Brown has clinched 11 or more rebounds in the last two games;
• Ten-day deal player Marquese Chriss has scored 13, 6 in the last two games;
• Rody Gobert has grabbed 17, 21, 19 rebounds in the last three games;
• Jalen Brunson has scored 18 or more in the last four games;
• Donovan Mitchell has mostly scored in the 27-35 points range this month;
• Bojan Bogdanovic has scored in 16-23 points range consistently;
• Dorian Finney-Smith has scored between 10 to 23 points recently;
• No injury to regular rotation players of the Jazz has been reported at the time of writing this piece;
• Mavericks’ injury list: Reggie Bullock, Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr, JaQuori McLaughlin, Trey Burke, Maxi Kleber, and Josh Green are in COVID-19 protocols. Willie Cauley-Stein is out due to personal reasons while Eugene Omoruyi won’t paly due to a shoulder injury;
• Go through the injury list before placing bets.

Expert Betting tips

Points Range: Utah’s games have gone at least as high as 229 in terms of the overall total during most of the games. Conversely, Dallas’ game hover around the 200 points mark and even under it at times. This is a huge contrast between the two squads, one likes shootouts, other prefers low-scorers. The Mavericks have nowhere to hide against the Jazz’s barrage on offense and the Jazz can contain the Doncic-less Mavericks. Still, with Brunson and Porzingis, the Mavericks can dream of getting past 100 and close to 105 at least. With the Jazz-based games, a points range of 220-235 can’t be discarded here.

Prediction: The Mavericks have their work cut out here and will have to depend upon the ten-day deal players to fill up the minutes column unless someone like Tim Hardaway Jr. clears the protocols, which doesn’t seem so. The Jazz is an overwhelming favourite for this game unless the Mavericks’ offense and defense can pull off something special. I think the Jazz will win her with a score of 117:106 or somewhere around that. 

Betting Options

• Total Over 215.5 for 2.06;
• Utah Jazz: Total Points: Over 114.5 for 2.00;
• Player Props: Player Points: Jalen Brunson: Over 20.5 for 1.90.