Portland Trail Blazers at Utah Jazz, EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT
Thursday, April 7, 2011, 10:30 pm Eastern, TV: TNT
Opening Line: Blazers -4.5
Current Line: Blazers -4.5
Opening Total: 188
Current Total: 188
Money Line: Blazers -200 / Jazz +170
The Portland Trail Blazers (45-33) have already clinched a playoff spot in the Western Conference but hope to improve their seeding when they visit the Utah Jazz (37-41) on Thursday. The Trail Blazers (-4.5) are tied with New Orleans for the sixth spot in the West and will likely draw either Dallas or the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the postseason depending on how they finish.
Portland is coming off a disappointing 108-87 home loss to Golden State on Tuesday as a 10-point favorite and made it into the playoffs when Houston suffered a 104-101 setback to Sacramento earlier in the night. The Blazers played like they were a little too relaxed in the second half against the Warriors after the Rockets were officially eliminated, getting outscored 61-40 by the visitors. They had held their previous eight opponents under 100 points.
The team has lost five of six on the road and will need to figure out how to win away from home in order to advance in the playoffs. There is even an outside chance that Portland could finish eighth and meet top seed San Antonio if Memphis finds a way to finish sixth or seventh. Regardless, the Blazers won at Utah back on December 27 after losing 16 of the previous 18 there and will be going for their third straight win in the series both straight-up and against the spread.
The Jazz are just 6-18 SU and 8-15-1 ATS since interim head coach Tyrone Corbin took over for Jerry Sloan and will be missing out on the postseason for the first time since 2006. However, they pulled off arguably their biggest win of the season Tuesday when they beat the Lakers 86-85 on the road. Rookie Gordon Hayward scored a career-high 22 points and hit the game-winning free throw with six seconds remaining one night after watching his alma mater Butler lose the national championship for the second year in a row.
Utah snapped their season-high eight-game losing streak with that victory at LA and covered as 13.5-point underdogs after going 2-5-1 ATS during the skid. Injuries could be a factor for the Jazz when they face Portland, as Devin Harris (hamstring), Ronnie Price (leg), Raja Bell (foot), Andrei Kirilenko (knee) and Kyrylo Fesenko (thumb) were all held out against the Lakers.
The injury situation could also help turn this into a low-scoring affair even though the OVER is 7-2 in the last nine meetings. The UNDER has cashed in the past five games for Utah overall along with seven of eight.
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