Mark's Free Pick NBA Basketball Utah Jazz-Portland Trail Blazers: 2/3/10

Written by Mark | 03 February 2010

NBA Basketball 2/3/10
Portland Trail Blazers (29-21)-Utah Jazz (29-18)

By Mark-Wednesday, Febuary 3rd 2010 9 PM EST
Line-Utah-7

Utah comes in as one of the hotter teams in the NBA, winners of six straight the last a 104-92 win over Dallas. The Energy Solutions Arena has not been kind to Portland who have lost four in a row there and it doesn't help matters facing one of the better clubs on the road that is breaking the century mark with regularity. All is not gloom and doom as Portland is less than two games behind the Jazz for the second spot in the west after lighting up the Bobcats 98-79 in their last game.

Both teams come in banged up with Carlos Boozer the biggest concern for Utah as he is suffering from a calf injury that comes and goes. His availability is up in the air for this one and that's a big loss considering team highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds. If Boozer is a no go, Paul Milsap will get the nod for the third straight time and he was outstanding against the Mavericks with a 25 ppoint explosion. I'm sure the Jazz can't expect that type of production on a consistent basis or he'd be logging a lot more minutes but he is a more than serviceable replacement. Milsap wasn't alone in the points department as Deron Williams helped the cause with a stellar 18 point, 15 assist and 7 rebound game to make the absence of Boozer less painful. Even though Utah had little problem scoring the basketball, it was thir defense that put this in the books as a win by holding Dallas to 16 4th quarter points and seven turnovers which the Jazz converted to 11 of their 27 points in the final stanza.

Portland is battling through injury issues of their own with leading scorer Brandon Roy nursing a hamstring problem. The Trail Blazers bench made sure scoring wouldn't be an issue versus Charlotte, pouring in 45 points to absorb the production they miss with Roy in street clothes sitting next to his 23 points. Considering the starters contributed 52 points Portland is getting production from 5-6 players which is enough to compensate for the absence of Roy in the short term. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 17 in the win and is a likely candidate to pick up the scoring burden while their star recovers. Andre Miller and his 52 points was the hero against Dallas Saturday but the Trail Blazers will need some balance and stand out performances from a variety of sources. The key will be whether they get production for the long term as I don't think Roy will be 100% for at least another week.

The Trail Blazers are 4-0 ATS in the last 4 as a road underdog of 5-10.5 points, 5-0 against the number in the past 5 road contests and 6-2 against the spread in the last 8 overall. The Jazz are 4-1 ATS in the last 5 as a home favorite of 5-10.5 points, 7-1-1 against the number in the past 9 as a favorite and 10-1-2 against the spread in the last 13 overall.

Tough one to call with injuries to prominent players as this one could be left up to which team's bench produces as opposed to the starters. I think there's not a great deal of difference between the two but Utah plays very well at home and is playing at a high level to begin with so I'm sticking with their home track record of success against Portland.