There’s a chance that we could see the Golden State Warriors and the Utah Jazz meet in the playoffs, so expect this game to have some extra flavor sprinkled on it. Will the Warriors stop Utah’s unbeaten streak? Or, will the Jazz hit the right notes and get their 51st win of the season?

Catch this game live on Tuesday, May 11, at 10 AM, Manila time.

HOME TEAM: Golden State Warriors (35-33, 21-11 at home)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Stephen Curry
  • SF: Kent Bazemore 
  • SF: Andrew Wiggins
  • PF: Draymond Green
  • C: Kevon Looney

Now comes the hard part for the Warriors. After going 4-1 straight up in a five-game stretch against teams like the New Orleans Pelicans and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Stephen Curry and company will be facing the Utah Jazz and the Phoenix Suns in a back-to-back set. 

Even though it’s not surprising to see Warriors’ roll a pair of wins recently against a shamelessly tanking Thunder team, those victories still gave Golden State the momentum it needs heading into this marquee date with the Jazz. No Warriors player is riding on the bigger wave right now than Curry, who’s just close to being unstoppable of late. 

After scoring 34 in the 118-97 win over Oklahoma City last Friday, Curry dropped 49 points in three quarters in the 136-97 win against the same team last Sunday. The Warriors defeated Utah at home, 131-119, in these teams’ last meeting in March, with Curry scoring 32 and Andrew Wiggins putting up 28. 

With Utah missing Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell, the Warriors could outshoot them from deep again just like in the past showdown, where Golden State had 16 threes to Utah’s 15. The Warriors head home with a 7-3 record against the spread in their last 10 games in the Bay Area.

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ROAD TEAM: Utah Jazz (50-18, 19-14 on the road)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Joe Ingles 
  • SG: Georges Niang 
  • SF: Bojan Bogdanovic
  • PF: Royce O’Neale 
  • C: Rudy Gobert

Like the Warriors, Utah capitalized on a sluggish opponent in its most recent game, scoring a 124-116 home win over the Houston Rockets lsat Sunday. With that, the Jazz managed to extend their win streak to five games, all of which took place in Salt Lake City. 

The Jazz will play three of their last four remaining games in the regular season on the road, including Tuesday’s meeting with Golden State. The Jazz don’t seem to find the Warriors’ home all that intimidating. They have won three of their last five trips there and have gone 3-1 against the spread in their last four visits to Chase Center, dating back to 2019 when it first opened. 

The absences of Mitchell and Conley are not putting a serious dent on the record of the Jazz, who continue to roll and win games, thanks in large part to the performances of Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson, and Joe Ingles. 

Bogdanovic has averaged 30.2 points on 60.4 FG% in the last five games, while Clarkson remains a steady source of buckets. Ingles has become the team’s de-facto playmaker, as he led the team with 8.2 assists in the past five outings. 

PREDICTIONS:

Spread:

The Jazz are missing Mitchell and Conley, but the team still has plenty of gamers out there to neutralize the Warriors. Take the Jazz to win and cover -2.5.


Over/Under:

Don’t get swayed by the offensive explosion of the Warriors in the last two games because, again, those were against the Thunder. The Jazz are a different and tougher customers. Golden State slows down, while the Jazz put up enough to show their dominance over Golden State. Take the Under 230.5

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