Ensuring they didn’t get swept by winning Game 4 of their first-round series, the Utah Jazz look to stay alive as they travel to Texas to face the Houston Rockets for Game 5. The Jazz were throttled in the first two games in Houston and have lost five of their last seven games at the Toyota Center, with four of those losses coming by double digits.
The Rockets opened as 8.5-point favorites with a total of 212.5.
STANDOUT STATS
- Houston has crushed the Jazz in both home games in this series and has won 13 of its last 14 games at home. The Rockets held the Jazz to less than 100 points in both games while winning each by 20 or more. When they faced Utah in the second round last season, they won the series in five games and each win was by 10 or more.
- The Rockets continue to be the deep-ball shooters of the NBA and lead the playoff field by averaging 43.5 attempts from behind the arc while hitting 36.8 percent of those shots. In two home games vs the Jazz in this series, the Rockets shot 83 times from deep while hitting 32 of them.
- The Jazz finally showed some life in Game 4 by avoiding the sweep and limiting the Rockets to 91 points. The Rockets still were able to can some shots from behind the arc (17-for-42) but were limited to only 79 shots and were outscored 52-22 in the paint. Utah has also done a good job of limiting James Harden from a breakout game as he “only” scored 30 in Game 4.
- The Rockets starters have been steady from a scoring standpoint but they’ve gotten almost nothing from their bench in the last two games. The backups only put up five points in Game 4 and 24 points in Game 3.
- UNDER bettors have been cashing in on this series thus far and another one could be coming for Game 5. The UNDER has hit in three of four games with an average combined score of 207.7. These teams faced each other four times during the regular season and the UNDER hit in three games (avg. combined score: 205).
My Best Bet for Jazz vs Rockets
Rockets -4.5 First Half
I normally try to stick to full-game lines but the spreads are so large in these potential clinching games that it just makes more sense to grab a smaller line and lessen the risk. That’s why the Rockets’ first-half line stands out because they crushed this team in the first half of both games in Houston. In Games 1 and 2, the Rockets led 70-44 and 59-44 while raining threes on the Jazz defense. I expect more of the same for Game 5.
