NBA: New Orleans Pelicans VS Utah Jazz Pick and Predictions 12/13/2022

Game: 9:00 PM ET,  Tuesday, December 13th, 2022

Venue: Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah

TV:  NBA League Pass

Pelicans: 18-8, 1st place Western Conference

Jazz: 15-14, 9th place Western Conference

BetMGM:  Point Spread: Pelicans -1.5, O/U 232.5

PointsBet: Point Spread: Pelicans -2, O/U 232.5

Fanduel: Point Spread: Pelicans -1.5, O/U 232.5

Pelicans: PF Zion Williamson, SF Trey Murphy III, C Jonas Valanciunas, SG CJ McCollum, PG Dyson Daniels

Jazz: PF Malik Beasley, PF Kelly Oynyk, C Jarred Vanderbilt, SG Talen Horton-Ticker, PG Nickeil Alexander-Walker

AN NBA Western Conference drastic mismatch.. Because of the roster, timeline, and good old fashioned better players.  The New Orleans Pelicans are winners.  They win and then win again.  The key piece to the winning is of course PF Zion Williamson who has ascended, after 3 seasons of drastically bad health, to the position of “Best player in the NBA”... That sounds like hyperbole because so many other players are mentioned as MVP candidates…. But the truth is Zion’s efficiency leads to amazing statlines.  Zion will frequently have 25+ - 10 + games while shooting 13 of 15 from the field or 13 of 16 or 11 of 12… you get it.  The kid dunks and puts rebounds back in the basket.. And he gets to the foul line. Anything other than that and he simply passes the ball out to a shooter.  If every Power Forward played Zion’s way… the Power Forward would be the best position in basketball! The Utah Jazz used to win and win and win… but they don’t anymore.  The reason is simple. Injury.  The Jazz are injured and while they were winning enough games to get to the top of the Western Conference with a brand new roster.. They could not sustain it once good players gave way to bench players because of those injuries.  There is a growing idea that the Jazz management saw enough awesomeness to validate their feelings of having built a great roster.. And now they want back in to the Victor Wembanyama Nba Draft Lottery.

The New Orleans Pelicans are the hottest team on the hardwood at the moment they are on a 7-game winning streak and have 5-2 ATS during that stretch.  They are a great team and they are great to gamble on.  The extra ceiling for Pelicans games is because PF Zion Williamson has come back to the court healthy and ready to play. YOu can literally put a bunch of random players next to Zion and still have a good chance at winning… but when you add the roster of the Pelicans with multiple other all-stars and a deep bench?... you win.  They are #1 in the Western Conference and no one looks to be able to stop them.  In their last game the beat the Phoenix Suns 129 - 124… a win ATS also. In that game Zion had 35 pts, 8 rbs, and 3 asts.  SG CJ  McCollum added 29 points, nothing else needs be said.

The Utah Jazz are falling in the standings after briefly hitting #1 during the first 20 games… Since then it has been all downhill. They are on a 2-game losing streak.  They lost their last game to the Denver Nuggets 115 - 110… It was a win against the terrible Vegas spread of 11.5.  However ATS means nothing to the record.   In the loss PG Nickeil Alexander-Walker (first cousin to Shai Gilgeoues-Alexander) had 27 points, 3 rbs, 2 asts… The rest of the team produce 4 double figure scorers but too little too late.  Nickeil is a BIG trade target! He is a good player that used to be on the bench for the Pelicans.  He is only starting because… PG Collin Sexton, PG Jordan Clarkson, PG Mike Conley and SF Lauri Markkanen are on the injury list.  So either Nickeil or Jordan Carkson (or both) could be on their way out by the trade deadline.  The team is good and they are looking for pieces for the next decade.

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NOP: 18-8, 15-11 ATS, 14-12 O/U, 6-5 in road games.

UTA: 15-14, 16-13 ATS, 15-14 O/U, 9-5 at home.

The Pelicans are 3rd in scoring with 117.6 points per game, 7th in rebounds with 45.2 per game, 4th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8, and 21st in blocked shots with 4.5 per game.

The Jazz are 5th in scoring with 117.3 points per game, 11th in rebounding with 43.8 per game, 19th in AST/TO ratio with 1.7, and 15th in blocked shots with 4.8 per game.

Our prediction for Tuesday, December 13th is…. Pelicans 133 - Jazz 111

The Pelicans will boat-race the Jazz… the Jazz are missing all the great roster pieces that could make them a good team.. The result will be catastrophe. Bet on the Pelicans, ignore the spread… Bet on the Pelicans again… Plus the OVER.

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Utah is 3-1 ATS versus the Pelicans in Utah the last 3 seasons.
3 of 4 games in this matchup in this place have gone OVER the last 3 seasons.
Utah is 13-4 ATS as an underdog this season.

Pelicans: PF Zion Williamson.  Zion is the reason to tune in to the Pelicans.  His efficiency and dominance is through the roof.  Plus we are never quite sure when the next injury will happen so watch him now while you have a chance.

Jazz: C Walker Kessler.  Walker is a 7’1 rookie that was taken late in the first round of the last NBA draft. He comes off the bench for the Jazz but that will change soon. His play as of late has been very strong with 7.9 pts, 6.8 rbs in 19 minutes over the last 10 games.  He logged a 20 pt, 11 rbs in 25 minutes performance against the Indiana Pacers on Dec 2nd.  You should get to know him as he will end up battling at the 5 spot for Utah for the next decade.

Pelicans: Willie “ can’t stop me” Green

Jazz: Will “yeah I’m old enough to buy a beer” Hardy