The Miami Heat are fresh off an embarrassing home loss to the Boston Celtics, where they were soundly defeated 95-78 and also lost Kyle Lowry to an ankle injury.
They’ll be taking the Utah Jazz, who own the Western Conference’s best record. The Jazz are also facing some injury problems of their own due to Donovan Mitchell and Royce O’Neale having ankle problems.
Catch this game live on November 7, at 7:30 AM, Manila time.
Away: Utah Jazz (7-1, 4-1 Away)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Mike Conley
- SG: Donovan Mitchell (questionable)
- SF: Bojan Bogdanovic
- PF: Royce O’Neale (questionable)
- C: Rudy Gobert
The Utah Jazz didn’t have Donovan Mitchell available against the Atlanta Hawks, but that didn’t matter much because of their depth. Reigning sixth man of the year Jordan Clarkson had been struggling from the field, including in the first half against the Hawks, but then detonated for 25 points in the second half while shooting 9 of 11 during that span.
Bogdan Bogdanovic also had 23 points in that contest, while Rudy Gobert (13 points, 15 rebounds) and Mike Conley (13 points, 11 assistS) had double-doubles in a strong team effort. The Jazz are one of the more versatile teams in the Western Conference and have multiple players outside of Mitchell who are capable of scoring 20 to 30 points a night.
A key battle will be between Rudy Gobert and Bam Adebayo, who are both effective centers with wildly different games. Gobert is the much taller man at 7’1, but surprisingly only has a few pounds in weight advantage over Adebayo, who is listed at 6’9 (258 pounds to 255 pounds). Gobert continues to find success as a traditional center who thrives by powering his way to rebounds and easy buckets inside, while Adebayo has the advantage in ball-handling skills. The Frenchman is currently averaging 15.4 PPG, 17.3 RPG and 1.8 BPG while the American is averaging 19.7 PPG, 12.9 RPG and 1.0 SPG.
The Jazz aren’t often underdogs, even on the road. In their last 10 games as a road underdog, they’ve posted a 2-8 record. They’re 3-7 against the spread in that span, and have hit the over 7 times, the under twice, and pushed once.
Home: Miami Heat (6-2, 3-1 Home)
Projected Starting Five:
- PG: Kyle Lowry (questionable)
- SG: Duncan Robinson
- SF: Jimmy Butler
- PF: PJ Tucker
- C: Bam Adebayo
Jimmy Butler, as usual, will be lynchpin of Miami’s plans to defeat the Jazz. This is especially true if Kyle Lowry is out for the game, as Lowry was finally getting into his stride. Butler has been a stat filler this season, averaging 24.4 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 5.1 APG, 2.6 SPG and has shot 54.1% from the field with a PER of 30.2. He’s only turning over the ball 2.1 times a game, too. The Heat will need him to have a great two-way game, and a little bit of bully-ball as well. Butler is averaging 8.9 free throw attempts per game and he’ll need to force the Jazz into foul trouble.
While the Jazz have Jordan Clarkson, the Heat also possess a great bench scorer in Tyler Herro, who is team’s second-leading scorer with 20.4 PPG, 6.1 RPG and 4.0 APG. The game may come down to who plays better between Clarkson and Herro, as both are capable of lighting up the scoreboard.
The last time the Heat lost a game, they went on a five-game winning streak. They’re going to want to reproduce that magic against a real tough team.
The Heat are 7-3 overall in their last 10 games as a home favorite. They’re 6-3-1 ATS in that span and 6-4 on the over/under.
PREDICTION:
Spread: The Heat are the kind of team to respond well after a loss, and I think they do it again and cover -2.
Over/Under: The Heat plus their opponents combine for 209.3 points a game, while the Jazz and their opponents average 212.9 points. That being said, I think the over 213 is going to happen.
