Utah Jazz vs. Los Angeles Clippers NBA Picks, Odds, Predictions 6/14/2021

The Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers collide in a pivotal Game 4 at the Staples Center on Monday night.

The Utah Jazz held all the momentum in the series after winning the first two games, but they will now be hoping to bounce back after getting routed by the Clippers in a 132-106 loss in Game 3 on Saturday. Donovan Mitchell led the team with 30 points, five rebounds and four assists, Joe Ingles drained five 3-pointers on his way to 19 points, Jordan Clarkson scored 14 points off the bench while Rudy Gobert chipped in with 12 points, 10 rebounds and one block. As a team, the Jazz shot just 42 percent from the field and 19 of 44 from the 3-point line as they struggled against the defense of the Clippers right from the start, falling behind by 15 points at halftime, before getting blown out in the fourth quarter. Bojan Bogdanovic had a rough shooting night as he scored just nine points on two of 10 shooting while Clarkson shot just five of 16 off the bench.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers needed to respond after falling down 2-0 in the series and they did just that in their dominant win on Saturday. Kawhi Leonard led the team with 34 points, 12 rebounds and five assists on 14 of 24 shooting, Paul George drained six 3-pointers on his way to 31 points and five assists while Nicolas Batum and Reggie Jackson each scored 17 points. As a team, the Clippers shot a healthy 56 percent from the field and 19 of 36 from the 3-point line as they poured in 37 points in the second quarter to take the 15-point lead at halftime, before exploding for 68 points in the second half where they made it a complete blowout. Looking at the betting trends, the Jazz are 4-1 ATS in their last five road games, 6-1 ATS in their last seven games against a team with a winning record and 6-1 ATS in their last seven games overall. The Clippers are 1-4 ATS in their last five home games, 1-5 ATS in their last six Conference Semifinals games and 1-7-1 ATS in their last nine games following a win  of more than 10 points.

Head to head, the under is 3-1-1 in the last five meetings overall, the Jazz are 9-4 ATS in the last 13 meetings in Los Angeles and the Jazz are 11-4 ATS in the last 15 meetings overall. 

The Clippers needed to come out firing after dropping the first two games of the series and they were able to get the job done on Saturday behind some stellar team defense and big scoring games from their two best players in Leonard and George. The Jazz looked really out of sorts on the offensive end at times in Game 3, but what they will be most disappointed about is their defense as they allowed the Clippers to shot 56 percent from the field and 52 percent from the 3-point line. It’s  tempting to take the Clippers to level the series at home, but I think the Jazz bounce back here and push the Clippers right to the brink in a close one.