Utah Jazz vs. Oklahoma City Thunder - 10/23/19 NBA Pick, Odds, and Prediction
Photo by Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
Oklahoma City Thunder (0-0) at Utah Jazz (0-0)
NBA Basketball: Wednesday, October 23, 2019 at 9:00 pm (Vivint Smart Home Arena)
The Line: Utah Jazz -9.5 -- Over/Under: Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Oklahoma City Thunder kick off their season with a visit to the Vivint Smart Home Arena to battle the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will be hoping to move into a full rebuild after winning 49 games last season on the back of Russell Westbrook and Paul George who are now both playing in different uniforms. Chris Paul was the big piece in the trade, and you get the feeling the Thunder will go as far as he can take them along with Steven Adams, but I’m not expecting too much as Paul hasn’t played more than 61 games in each of the last three seasons. There’s also always the chance that Paul gets traded away to a contender, but unlikely given his hefty contract.
Meanwhile, the Utah Jazz will be aiming for a better season after losing to the Rockets in the first-round last season. In an attempt to improve their perimeter scoring, the Jazz replaced Ricky Rubio with Mike Conley which shifts Donovan Mitchell to the shooting guard position. The Jazz were also able to sign Bojan Bogdanovic to replace Derrick Favors which leaves them with a solid starting lineup with Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles completing the balanced lineup.
Looking at the betting trends, the Thunder are 24-9 ATS in their last 33 Wednesday games, 6-16 ATS in their last 22 against the Western Conference and 2-5 ATS in their last seven against the NBA Northwest. The Jazz are 13-4 ATS in their last 17 Wednesday games, 19-6-1 ATS in their last 26 games following a loss and 4-1 ATS in their last five against the NBA Northwest.
Head to head, the under is 11-2 in the last 13 meetings in Utah, the road team is 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings and the Thunder are 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings overall.
It’s hard to be too optimistic about the Thunder who are probably still dealing with the shock of losing Paul George to the Clippers, but they’re not a terrible team if Paul is healthy. I felt Rubio played well for the Jazz last season, but they upgraded with Conley at the point which could liberate Mitchell to take the next leap in his progression. The Thunder are 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings overall but with the roster overhaul, I’m leaning towards the Jazz to kick off their season with a solid win and cover at home.
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Peter’s Pick Utah -9.5
AUTHOR: Peter Tran
Mitch's Take...
