Game Time: 9:30 PM ET, Friday, April 8th, 2022 

Venue:   Vivint Arena, Utah Jazz

Where to Watch: NBA TV

DraftKings:  Spread:  Jazz -2; O/U 226

Fanduel:  Spread:  NL

BetMGM:  Spread: Jazz -1.5; O/U 226.5

Suns: 63-17, 1st place Western Conference and the entire League

Jazz: 48-32, 5th pace Western Conference

An NBA Western Conference matchup between the best team in the league who may be resign players and the 5th team in the West who may need to get another win to claim the 5th spot in the Playoffs.  The Phoenix Suns are the best team in the league… They have the best combination of starters and the deepest bench.  In both those areas they are only challenged by the Memphis Grizzlies.  The Suns spent the last month without PG Chris Paul and kept winning. The roster as a whole is so good that they can’t help but win while CP3 is out.   The Utah Jazz are the 5th place team and have not spent the last month winning. They have spent the last month just holding on to their spot in the playoffs without dipping in to the “play-in” game. Utah C Rudsy Gobert and SG Donovan Mitchell are the team… everyone else except for back-up SG Jordan Clarkson are completely interchangeable with the extra guys on any other team.  The lack of TEAM in Utah is a bing deficit versus the beat TEAM in the league.

The Phoenix Suns have won 7 of their last ten games.  They would have done better had they not started to sit starters.  They went 5-5 ATS during that stretch.  PG Chris Paul is out for the moment.  He can play… but he won’t.  His value is playoffs and he has an almost comical history of getting hurt at the beginning of the playoffs,, so why bother? Let him rest, let him wait.  Let the playoffs envelope all the teams that do not have a Chris Paul.  Leading scorer SG Devin Booker has been disrespected yet again in the MVP discussions… He should rest! Why would you risk it? C Deandre Ayton is the man in the paint that would hurt Ridy Gobert all night… but why play him when you have a guaranteed spit in the playoffs… The #1 spot at that.  Everyone else must play.  The way the Suns work is on depth… you do not want to upset that.  Ok. OK. You might also sit Jae Crowder since his replacement in the lineup is just as good and you want the Vet for the Playoffs… Oh shoot!  Am I playing Phoenix GM and resting everybody?!!

The Utah Jazz have won only 4 of their last ten games.  They went 2-7-1 ATS during that stretch.  The Jazz have already been coasting… only they did not intend to be. The jazz have two great players in SG Donovan Mitchell and C Rudy Gobert.. Outside of them the roster is mostly empty.  Yes, I know thT Bojan Bogdanovic is the second best Bogdanovic in the league.. And Jordan Clarkson has set a mark for consecutive 1000 pt scoring seasons from the bench …No one cares.  The Jazz are up and down based on their top two stars… not on a team.  I would not put money on the Jazz… today, tomorrow, or the next day.  They could always lose if the top-two guys either rest or have bad games. 

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The Phoenix Suns are 63-17 on the season, but 43-37 ATS. They have logged 40 Overs, 39 Unders, and 1 Push. They are 31-9 on the road.

The Utah Jazz are 48-32 on the season, but 32-44-4 ATS.  They have notched 37 Overs, 41 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 29-11 in home games.

The Phoenix Suns are 4th in scoring with 115.0 ppg, 11th in rebounds with 45.2 per game, and 2nd in AST/TO ratio with 2.1.  On defense they rank 9th while holding opponents to 107.3 ppg.

The Utah Jazz are 7th in scoring with 113.9 ppg, 3rd in rebounds with 46.2 per game, and 28th in AST/TO ratio with 1.6. On defense they rank 10th while allowing 107.9 ppg from opponents.

Our prediction for Friday, April 8th is…..  Phoenix 132 - Utah 112

Phoenix will not use all their stars, but neither will Utah… the result will be a domination by the TEAM of Phoenix. This time of year leads to struggles when not all the stars or key players play… the Suns at 80% versus the Jazz at 80% leads to an enormous advantage for the Suns.  The Suns at 80% and the Jazz at 100% is still a silly advantage for the Suns.

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Phoenix is 3-0 ATS versus Utah at Utah the last 3 seasons.
Utah is 51-41 ATS versus Phoenix since 1996.
2 of 3 games in this series have gone UNDER the last 3 seasons.

Suns: All Quest : Devin Booker, Jae Crowder, Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton ** PF Frank Kaminsky (knee) Out *8 Sf Dario Saric (knee) Out

Jazz: SF Royce O'Neale (thumb) Quest ** PG Mike Conley (knee) Quest ** C Udoh Azubuike (ankle) Out

Suns: PF Cameron Johnson, Sf Mikal Bridges, C JaVale Mcgee, SG Landry Shamet, PG Cameron Payne

Jazz: PF Juancho Hernangomez, SF Bojan Bogdanovic, C Rudy Gobert, SG Trent Forrest, PG Danuel House Jr.

Suns: Monty Williams

Jazz: Quin Snyder