NBA: Utah Jazz vs. New Orleans Pelicans Preview, Odds, Prediction

Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans highlight this Monday night in the NBA. These two sides will clash in Big Easy, in a match that promises a lot of fun, as both sides play efficient basketball, with highlight reels frequently. This would be the third meeting between the divisional rival, with the Jazz winning both previous. It needs to be said that those matches took place in Salt Lake City, which was of great help for the league leaders, who will be now tested at Smoothie King Center.

Preview

Utah Jazz (27-7, -270) lost twice in the past five games, and that is something they didn’t use to experience this year. Quin Snyder’s boys come to Louisiana from Florida, where they had back-to-back matches against the Heat and the Magic. The on against Miami ended 124-116 for the hosts, while Utah bounced back the night after, beating the Magic in Orlando, 124-109.

Mitchell would score 31 points for the winners, hitting five threes, while Jordan Clarkson came off the bench, dropping four threes and 18 points. Joe Ingles had 17, while Rudy Gobert posted a double-double with 12 points, making all of his six attempts, with 16 rebounds.

The Jazz was shooting pretty well, 52.9% from the field, but they haven’t been at their usual level when it comes to a percentage from deep, making 17 of 45 attempts, 37.8%. That is quite the solid output, but the Jazz knows much better.

New Orleans Pelicans (14-19, +230) lost two in a row, after winning against the Celtics and the Pistons. At first, the Pels lost in Milwaukee 129-125, thanks to their clumsy final possession, where they confused one another. After that, New Orleans was defeated in San Antonio vs. Spurs, 117-114, again due to their poor finishing.

The Pelicans are showing solid improvement in the last few weeks, but they don’t know how to close matches. They are inexperienced, and we get that, but it seems that they complicate things without any particular need.

The next six games they play will all be in Louisiana, and if NO wants to reach the playoff zone, that demands at least four wins during this stretch. The opponents are going to be the Jazz, Bulls, Heat, Timberwolves, Cavaliers and the Clippers. A true test for Stan Van Gundy’s crew,

Head to Head Matches

As said, this is the third game between these two sides since the campaign began. Utah defeated Pelicans on January 19, 118-102, and two days later, 129-118. Zion was the best scorer for the guests back then with 59 points combined, while Spida Mitchell dropped 64 for the Jazz.

Prediction

Utah is in superb shape, but what frightens us is the fact that this team is on the road for quite some time. They had four of the past six games away from Salt Lake, and if it weren’t for that, we would most definitely bet on their win. But in this case, we will go with Over number of points. The line is currently at 235, which is huge Over in our opinion. Utah’s offense is superb, while on the other end, the Pels, too, are focused on attacking the basket far more than on defending it.