Los Angeles Clippers (53-30) vs. Utah Jazz (58-23)
June 16, 2021 10:00 pm EDT
The Line: Utah Jazz -2.5; Over/Under: -223.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Utah Jazz will be hoping to reclaim the lead against the Los Angeles Clippers in a pivotal Game 5 at the Vivint Arena on Wednesday night.
It took the Los Angeles Clippers a couple of games to wake up in this series, but they will now be gunning for the series lead after making light work of the Jazz in a dominant 118-104 win in Game 4 on Monday. Kawhi Leonard led teh team with 31 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals on nine of 19 shooting, Paul George added 31 points with nine rebounds and four assists on nine of 20 shooting while Marcus Morris Sr. chipped in with 24 points on six of 11 shooting but no other player finished in double figures in scoring. As a team, the Clippers shot 46 percent from the field and 15 of 37 from the 3-point line as they set the tone early by holding the Jazz to just 13 points in the first quarter, before exploding for 38 points in the second quarter to take a comfortable 24-point lead going into halftime.
Meanwhile, the Utah Jazz must be getting a little worried as they haven’t been able to hang with the hot-shooting Clippers in the last two games. Donovan Mitchell led the team with 37 points on Monday, Joe Ingles continued his strong form with 19 points on seven of nine shooting, Bojan Bogdanovic added 18 points with five assists while Rudy Gobert chipped in with 11 points and eight rebounds. As a team, the Jazz shot just 42 percent from the field and 17 of 42 from the 3-point line, but a slow start had them trailing by double-digits for just about the entire game. Donovan Mitchell shot just nine of 26 from the field while Jordan Clarkson finished with just eight points on three of 12 shooting off the bench.
Looking at the betting trends, the Clippers are 4-10 ATS in their last 14 Conference Semifinals games, 1-4 ATS in their last five games against a team above .600 and 2-7-1 ATS in their last 10 games following a win of more than 10 points. The Jazz are 4-0 ATS in their last four home games, 4-1 ATS in their last five games against a team above .600 and 6-2 ATS in their last eight games overall.
Head to head, the under is 3-1-1 in the last five meetings overall, the Clippers are 8-22-1 ATS in the last 31 meetings in Utah and the Clippers are 5-11 ATS in the last 16 meetings overall.
Joe Ingles has done a nice job filling in as a starter as he has shot 61.1 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from the 3-point line in this series, but the Jazz could really do with the play of Mike Conley who has yet to play a game in this series due to a right hamstring strain. The Clippers were in trouble after getting blown out in the first two games of the series, but they now hold all the momentum after responding with two dominant wins. The Jazz have been slow starters in the last two games and it has already cost them big, but with the series shifting back to the Vivint Arena where they’ve been tough to beat all season, I think the Jazz bounce back and reclaim the series lead with a narrow win in this one.
