Clippers @ Jazz Prediction: Bet Jazz to set the tone in Game 1

In the second game of the night, we have the Utah Jazz hosting the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 1 with the Jazz a -4 favorite.

The Clippers were lucky to make it out of the first round against Dallas after a seven-game series. While Dallas had one of the league’s best offenses, they will now go against a Utah team that has one of the league’s best defenses.

In my eyes, the Jazz are the exact opposite of what the Clippers are.

The Jazz are a team that is led by Donovan Mitchell, but as we saw when he was injured at the end of the season, it doesn’t start and end with him. The Jazz have enough options that, if Mitchell isn’t playing well, can get contributions from other guys. Jordan Clarkson took home Sixth Man of the Year while Joe Ingles was second in the voting.

Meanwhile, everything for the Clippers starts and ends with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. If one of them has an off game, Utah will pounce. In Leonard’s case, that doesn’t necessarily mean getting held to single digits. But we saw in the Dallas series that even a 20-point night from him isn’t nearly enough.

I’m anxious to see how the Clippers react to Utah’s defensive pressure. They were able to get a look at some of the bigger lineups the Jazz might throw at them after having to deal with Boban and Kristaps Porzingis in the Dallas series.

Needless to say, I like the Jazz -4 tonight. I know they had a long layoff compared to the Clippers, but I think that helped Mitchell heal and get back closer to 100 percent if he wasn’t already. The Jazz aren’t a team that I feel will be impacted by the layoff, as they’re a pretty sound basketball team.

Bojan Bogdanovic is going to be one of the more crucial aspects of this series after averaging 17 points per game. They’re similar to the Hawks in the sense that they have multiple guys that can get it done with no real log jam that could happen in the offense.

For our prop of the game, I’m liking Reggie Jackson’s under 14.5 points. He played well in the Dallas series, but I think the defensive pressure of the Jazz while being guarded by Mike Conley will throw him off a bit. Like I said above, the Clippers didn’t even look that good against Dallas, who, to put it nicely, isn’t a very good defensive team. The Jazz are the opposite.

You can get the under at -125 at Pointsbet, -130 at BetMGM, and -113 at 888Sport, BetRivers and Unibet.