Big Game Report #47

By Chase Bailkin

New Orleans Pelicans

(14-19)

VS

Utah Jazz

(27-7)

11th West

1st West

Fanduel Odds

The Jazz and the Pelicans average the same amount of points scored (116), but the Jazz are much better on defense and is why they are 1st in the league and the Pelicans are terrible on defense and are 11th in the West. The Pelicans cannot find ways to win games down the stretch, and are having a lot of trouble communicating defensively. They are relying way too much on their offense to get the job done and it isn’t working. The Jazz on the other hand are terrific on both sides of the ball, and have all of the pieces to win a championship - star point guard (Conley) who facilitates the offense well, a star shooting guard (Mitchell) who scores the ball at will, a star center (Gobert) who is a DPOY and is great at setting screens and catching lob dunks, and a terrific group of role and bench players that play great team defense and hit their open shots. I am hot on the Jazz this year - they are 24-8 against the spread, and I think they add to that tonight against a Pelicans team that lacks defense and a true identity. Take the Jazz -7, Donovan Mitchell over 26.5 points, and Mike Conley over 15.5 points.