Utah Jazz vs Dallas Mavericks betting tips and predictions for Thursday’s NBA Western Conference Playoff game on NBA TV. After an intense 2 games played in Dallas, the series between the Mavericks and Jazz now moves to Salt Lake City as the two teams clash in Game 3 tonight. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Utah Jazz
As crazy as it sounds, the Utah Jazz shouldn’t be happy with the series being tied at 1-1 after 2 games. Dallas was without Luka Doncic in both of those games, if you’re in Utah you have to take full advantage of opportunities like that, instead, they got the split and now the pressure is on them to win the next 2 at home to maintain a hold on home court advantage.
Donovan Mitchell has been scoring well in the 2 games, although he hasn’t been very efficient. Bojan Bogdanovic is averaging 25 points through 2 games and that is with his signature three-point shooting struggling a bit. Rudy Gobert has dominated on the defensive end, on offence he has attempted a total of 6 shots from the field so far. But still, the Jazz is in the driving seat here, especially if the Mavs are once again without their best player.
Dallas Mavericks
As of writing this preview, there is still no concrete news on Luka Doncic’s condition for Game 3. He is officially listed as questionable as he recovers from a calf strain. The Mavs have missed him dearly in the two games so far, but Jalen Bronson upped his game and managed to save their season with a win in Game 2. He finished with 41 points, including 5 made threes, while Maxi Kleber added 25 points off the bench.
Dallas is already a very limited team offensively, so without their motor on offense they’ll need a similar game from their role players tonight if they want to get anything out of the game in Utah. It hasn’t been a good venue for them to appear in lately, they’ve won just once in their last 12 visits to Vivint Arena. Their optimism lies in the fact that they’ve covered the spread 5 times in their last 6 road games there.
Five of the six games played so far during the regular season and playoffs were decided by 10 or less points, so even if the Mavs are 7-point dogs here we could be in for another close outcome. Utah had a 29-12 record at home during the regular season, they should be capable of winning by 8 against a shorthanded Mavs team. Let’s go with the home team to cover.
Utah Jazz vs Dallas Mavericks Predictions & Odds
The last 10 meetings between these teams have averaged 218.3 points per game, so I am a bit surprised with the projected total being set at 210.5 points here, but maybe that’s something we can use to our advantage. Dallas has gone over in 7 of their last 9 games, including 5 of their last 6 played on the road. The Jazz has had the overland more times at home than the under this season, plus in their last 4 of 5 games played on a Thursday at Vivint Arena they went over the total.
I expect the game to open up a little since role players tend to play better at home. Aside from Mitchell and Bogdanovic, the Jazz players have disappointed offensively so far. Dallas has shown they are capable of putting the ball into the basket in the last game, plus in their last 2 visits to Salt Lake City during the regular season they put up 109 and 114 points. If those averages continue tonight, we are in for a solid scoring game from both teams, so I would advise backing the over in this one.
