The San Antonio Spurs need wins to keep them in contention for at least a spot in the play-in tournament. Will they get one against the Utah Jazz, who just beat them the other day?

Catch this game live on Thursday, May 6, at 9 AM, Manila time

HOME TEAM: Utah Jazz (47-18, 28-4 at home)

Projected Starting Five:

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

Utah will be looking to score two trifectas when it faces the Spurs Thursday. The Jazz can extend their win streak to three games after beating the Toronto Raptors (106-102) and the Spurs (110-99) both at home in their last two games. 

Utah is also 2-0 straight up this season against San Antonio and could sweep the three-game regular-season series Thursday morning. Although the Jazz are playing games of late without Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley because of injuries, the team is filling in the voids those two have temporarily left by coaxing the other guys to step up.  Bojan Bogdanovic has averaged 22.4 points in the last five games, while Jordan Clarkson and Rudy Gobert continue to produce. 

Joe Ingles has proven he can play the point-forward role, while Georges Niang has put up 11.0 points in the last five Jazz games. The Jazz are 9-4 against the spread in their last Thursday (Manila) games.

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ROAD TEAM: San Antonio Spurs (31-33, 18-13 on the road)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Dejounte Murray
  • SG: Devin Vassell
  • SF: DeMar DeRozan
  • PF: Keldon Johnson
  • C: Jakob Poeltl

The Spurs are on the verge of getting eased out of the play-in tournament window after losing to the Jazz on the road last Tuesday. That’s the Spurs’ fourth loss in a row, as they also recently lost to the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, and the Philadelphia 76ers. A tough schedule down the stretch of the regular season is testing San Antonio and so far, the Spurs are not struggling to gain any success. 

It’s just unfortunate for the Spurs that they have the toughest remaining schedule, but this shouldn’t deter bettors from laying money on San Antonio’s spreads. After all, the Spurs have covered the spread in seven of their last 10 games. Moreover, the Spurs are also 7-2-1 against the spread in their last 10 games away from San Antonio. 

DeMar DeRozan will spearhead San Antonio’s offense that is putting up 111.0 points per game. DeRozan had 22 points in Tuesday’s loss to Utah.

PREDICTIONS:

Spread: The lack of firepower on the side of San Antonio will be the Spurs’ downfall in this game — again. Take the Jazz to win and cover (-7.5).

Over/Under: The Spurs will not be able to keep up with Utah’s offense, but they will score just enough to help the total hit the Over (221.5).

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