NBA BETTING PICKS AND ANALYSIS: MIAMI HEAT AT UTAH JAZZ

The Miami Heat will try to recover from a drubbing at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday as they head to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz at the Energy Solutions Arena.  The Heat are in the midst of their longest road trip of the season, and after an opening game win at Phoenix on Friday night will try to improve to 2-1 on the West Coast swing here.  NBA basketball betting lines have installed Utah as a -7’ point home favorite with the total posted at 192.

Utah is currently on the outside looking in at the playoffs in the brutal Western Conference race.  The Jazz’s 20-17 SU record would be good enough for fifth place in the East, but leaves them at 10th place in their own conference.  They’re just ½ game out of the eighth and final playoff spot and as evidence of the Western Conference’s toughness this season are just 3 games behind San Antonio, Denver and Phoenix who have all tied for third.  The Jazz have reverted to their usual form as the season has progressed, playing tough at home where they’re 13-6 SU and struggling to a 7-11 record on the road.

Miami, meanwhile, is in 5th place in the Eastern Conference with a record that wouldn’t even get them a playoff berth out West.  At 18-17, the Heat will need a win here to stay over .500 and remain one of only five Eastern Conference teams with a winning overall record.  After a solid performance at Phoenix to open this road trip, the Heat were thoroughly outplayed by the Clippers on Sunday in a 10 point loss that wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate.

The Heat have had the Jazz’s number in recent years, winning 4 of the last 5 meetings straight up and covering in all of them.  Miami beat the Jazz by 10, 80-70 on their home floor as -1 point favorites on 12/23.  This game marked Utah’s low point output of the season, and has become something of a sore point with the Jazz players and coaching staff.  As a result, they’re placing a big emphasis on a solid performance here.  As is the case with most Western Conference teams, they’ve performed well against the East this season with a 10-5 SU/ATS mark.

Miami is only 6-9 SU/ATS against the West and this is a tough scheduling spot for them.  This is their fourth game in six days, while Utah hasn’t played since an impressive win at Dallas on Saturday night.  The Jazz have covered 9 of the last 12 games at the ‘E-Center’ in Salt Lake City, and we look for them to avenge the late December loss against a Heat team that could be feeling some fatigue after a busy stretch of games.  Jazz should win this by 10+ and easily cover the NBA basketball pointspread.

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