The Philadelphia 76ers lost to Orlando in Jimmy Butler’s debut on Wednesday but with another day of practice under their belt and an unblemished record at Wells Fargo Center, the Sixers open as a 3-point favorite against the visiting Utah Jazz. The total opened at 215.
Utah is coming off a disaster of a game on Wednesday, losing 118-68 to Dallas. It was the 13th time in franchise history that the Jazz were held to 68 points or less and marked their lowest output since February 4, 2000, against the Lakers.
- The 76ers are 8-0 SU in their last eight games at home (avg. winning margin: 9.25).
- The Jazz are 4-1 ATS in their last five games on the road vs teams with winning records.
- The total has gone UNDER in eight of the Jazz’ last nine games vs the 76ers (avg. combined score: 183.67).
It Takes Time To JelL
Butler played 33 minutes in his Philly debut, depositing 14 points and adding four rebounds. It was looking good for the Sixers until they were outscored by 16 points in the fourth quarter to lose by five to the Magic – worsening their road record to 2-7 in the process.
It’s been a much different story in Pennsylvania, though, as the 76ers have won their last eight games on home court by an average of 9.25 points, including wins over Boston, Indiana and Detroit. The Sixers are currently in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, but with the addition of Butler, they are now one of the favorites in the East along with Toronto and Boston.
You Should be Offended by Utah’s Offense
The 68-point effort on Wednesday is the cherry on the sundae for what has been a tough start to the season on the offensive side of the court for Utah. The Jazz have the No. 21 scoring offense, are 24th in the Association in terms of three-point shooting and offensive rebounding and they’ve hit just 72.9 percent of their free-throw attempts.
Despite that, the Jazz are still 7-7 SU and ATS and are tied in the Western Conference standings with San Antonio, New Orleans and Houston – all just a game out of the top eight. Sophomore shooting guard Donovan Mitchell leads the team with 20.4 points per game while Rudy Gobert, Joe Ingles, Jae Crowder, Derrick Favors and Ricky Rubio are all averaging double digits.
My Pick for Tonight
I’m going to back the home favorite 76ers in this game. In addition to being among the league’s worst offensive teams, the Jazz have the No. 28 field-goal defense in the league. On average, teams are hitting 47.7 percent of the shots they take from the floor. That’s music to the ears of the multi-faceted Sixers attack.
While the Sixers haven’t been a great spread bet at 6-10 ATS this season, they are 5-1 SU and 4-2 ATS in their last six as home favorites of 4 points or less.
