Grizzles @ Jazz Predictions: Brooks under 19.5pts gets our attention

If Donovan Mitchell is back in the lineup tonight then Zach Rainey thinks he can hold Dillon Brooks to under 19.5pts in this game...

So far, the NBA Playoffs has been everything a fan could have dreamed of.

The Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Donovan Mitchell-less Utah Jazz for a victory as the No. 8 seed. This isn’t the first time the Grizzlies have been in the position of spoiler, as the Grizzlies defeated the San Antonio Spurs as a No. 8 seed years ago.

The Jazz will have the opportunity to even the series before heading to Memphis for two games and opened as 7.5-point favorites. Since the announcement that the Jazz will have a new tune in Game 2 with Donovan Mitchell rejoining the lineup after some weird story lines about how and why he was held out in Game 1, the spread has since moved to -8.5.

At some point, I think the Jazz will start to look like a No. 1 seed.

With Mitchell back in the lineup, it allows everyone to go back to their original roles. The Jazz took care of business down the stretch of the regular season, but Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks each had a great Game 1. I’m not sure if Brooks provides a similar scoring output, but his effort and defense will definitely be there. He takes these match-ups personally.

Utah lost by just three points in Game 1 and they shot just 25 percent from 3-point range. For a team that was tied for fourth in the regular season in 3-point percentage, if they hit one more three and aren’t just pitiful from deep in Game 1, they take it to overtime and who knows what would’ve happened. Utah is still clearly the favorite in the series, and if they’re just barely better from deep, which has been their bread-and-butter this season, they should win Game 2 with ease.

I think Utah makes a statement at home before heading to Memphis. Including their two play-in victories, Memphis hasn’t had much of a rest in comparison to these other teams. While they’re young, I think their schedule of intense games catches up with them in Mitchell’s return.

Let’s back the Jazz at -8.5 and hope that the Jazz get back to at least their season-long scoring numbers and take care of business.

For our prop of the night, knowing that Mitchell will be back in the lineup as well as likely giving his team a confidence boost just with him out there, I think he holds Dillon Brooks under 19.5 points.

It will be interesting to see what Utah’s rotation looks like and just what his minutes situation is going to be, but I like him to provide enough of a lift on both ends for Utah to both win comfortably and hold Dillon Brooks under 19.5.

You can get number at -125 at BetMGM and PointsBet, and -121 at BetRivers, 888Sport and Unibet.