Utah at Portland

Two pretty pathetic teams match up here. Strangely, Utah has performed better on the road than at home this season. On the road they are a .500 ballclub with a 6-2 ATS record. They are scoring a lot more points per game on the road than at home. And, their defense has stepped up, holding opponents to just 90 points per game over their last five, despite a high-scoring overtime game vs. the Lakers on Thursday. Prior to that, they held the Pacers to 84, Golden State to 94, Seattle to 87, Milwaukee to 80 and Memphis to 80. Some pretty good teams there. Overall on the season, the Jazz are holding opponents to under 43% shooting. So, expect Portland, a team scoring just 85.5 points per game, to struggle a lot offensively here. Utah for one star.