Free NBA Picks and Odds: Utah Jazz @ San Antonio Spurs Expert Predictions – NBA Betting Preview 4/9/11: The NBA regular season is drawing to a close, but before the playoffs begin, bettors still have a few more opportunities to cash in on some matchups that pit the top teams in the league against some of the bottom feeders. In this case, the top team in the Western Conference faces a Utah squad that has come unraveled since the loss of their coach Jerry Sloan and the trade of their best player Deron Williams. Even though the Jazz are getting 9 ½ points in this contest, the San Antonio Spurs are the smart pick.
Despite clinching the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs, don’t expect the Spurs to pack it in the rest of the way. The Chicago Bulls have closed to within one game of San Antonio for the top record in the NBA, and the importance of home court advantage throughout the playoffs can’t be understated. The Spurs have just two games remaining, and one more win guarantees them at least a coin flip for the top overall seed regardless of what the Bulls do. Utah is the far easier opponent with the Los Angeles Lakers waiting in the season finale. San Antonio will be focused on taking care of business Saturday night.
For bettors worried the Gregg Popovich will decide to rest his starters as he has been known to do, stop worrying. He already did that the last couple of weeks. The Spurs lead in the Western Conference dwindled to just 1 ½ games while Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili rode the bench or played limited minutes, but Popovich has released his stars from lockdown this past week. The Spurs have responded by winning three straight and ballooning their lead back to five games.
Don’t be worried about the 9 ½ point spread either. In their last two home games, the Spurs have demolished the Phoenix Suns by 17 and defeated the Sacramento Kings by 32. In other words, San Antonio has had no problem beating lesser opponents by a wide margin. The Jazz are much worse than their 37-42 record suggests. They are just 1-9 in their last 10 games and haven’t been a threat since Williams was shipped to New Jersey. The Spurs know what is at stake tonight, and they will run over the Jazz.
Prediction: San Antonio Spurs (-9½) Win and Cover the Spread
Utah Jazz(37-42) at San Antonio Spurs(60-19)
Time: 8:35 PM EST
Vegas Odds – Favorite: San Antonio -9.5 Total: Over/Under 199
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