The Utah Jazz will have their chance to beat the Northwest’s best team when they take on the division rival Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center. The game gets underway at 10:00 pm ET on Saturday, Apr. 11 and will air on ROOT-NW and KGW.
The Trail Blazers were beaten by the Warriors 116-105 on Thursday. LaMarcus Aldridge was the team’s high scorer, contributing 27. The Jazz, meanwhile, are coming off a 103-91 win over the Kings on Wednesday. Derrick Favors had a good game and claimed his 23rd double-double of the season, posting 18 points and 11 rebounds.
The Trail Blazers have won two out of three against the Jazz this season, including a close 92-89 victory in their last matchup. Damian Lillard put up 23 points and 12 assists.
Oddsmakers have deemed this game an even matchup and the Over/Under (O/U) is currently unavailable. The Trail Blazers enter the game with records of 51-28 Straight Up (SU) and 40-38-1 Against The Spread (ATS). They have gone 11-3 SU and 6-7-1 ATS against teams from their own division. The Trail Blazers are a dangerously accurate shooting team from the line with an NBA-best .801 free throw percentage. As for the Portland defense, teams routinely struggle to score points against the Trail Blazers, who allow only 95.4 points per home game. Teams have to fight for three-pointers against the Trail Blazers, who have the least opponent three-pointers made in the league at 505 (6.4 per game).
On the other side, Utah has a SU record of 36-42 and an ATS record of 42-34-2. In divisional games, Utah has gone 8-7 SU and 10-5 ATS.
Following the Trail Blazers’ latest win over Utah, their SU record rises to 7-3 over the Jazz in the last 10 meetings. Additionally, with a 6-4 record, the Trail Blazers have the advantage ATS. When it comes to field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers, Portland held the edge in all three of these categories three times in the last 10 meetings. Utah did so once.
Predictions: SU Winner – POR, ATS Winner – POR
Notes
The Trail Blazers are a top-10 scoring team, averaging 103.0 points per game. Utah gives up just 94.6 points per game, best in the league.
Portland ranks sixth in the league with 104.1 points per home game. Utah allows just 95.7 points per away game (ranked second).
When allowing fewer than 100 points, the Trail Blazers are 40-8 on the season. When the Jazz score fewer than 100, they are an underachieving 18-33.
When allowing 100 or more points in a game, the Trail Blazers are just 11-20 this season. Utah is a winning 18-9 when it hits the century mark.
The Jazz have a defensive rating of 102.2 (ranked 14th). The Trail Blazers rank eighth for their offensive rating of 105.7.
On average, Portland has 97.4 possessions per game and scores 1.057 points on each possession. Utah has both fewer possessions (92.6) and scores fewer points during those possessions (1.025).
The Portland Trail Blazers have one of the best effective field goal percentages this season, ranking ninth in the league with an EFF% of 50.8%. When their opponents record a similar or higher EFF%, the Utah Jazz have a subpar 4-30 record.
Portland makes an average of 22.0 assists per game (ranked 11th), while Utah makes 19.9 assists per game (ranked 30th).
The Portland Trail Blazers average 4.6 blocks per game for a rank of 18th. The Utah Jazz rank higher (third), earning 6.0 blocks each contest.
The Portland Trail Blazers rank 15th in offensive rebounding, while the Utah Jazz rank 19th in defensive rebounding.
Utah makes an average of 7.5 steals per game. Portland has a winning 31-19 record when it allows at least 7 steals.
