Trail Blazers vs. Jazz NBA Picks: Who Wants It More? (Archive)

Motivation could be the key for the Portland Trail Blazers to beat the NBA odds this Wednesday versus the first-place Utah Jazz. 

Portland Trail Blazers vs. Utah Jazz 

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 – 09:30 PM EDT at Vivint Smart Home Arena

The NBA’s silly season has arrived. As always, the last week before this year’s playoffs is a grab bag of delights; before you hit up any of the lines at our top sportsbooks, you need to pay close attention to which teams are still trying hard, and which teams have packed up their tents. Wednesday’s matchup between the Portland Trail Blazers (40-29 SU, 35-34 ATS) and Utah Jazz (50-19 SU, 39-30 ATS) features two clubs with at least some motivation to perform, although it’s the Blazers who need the victory more.

Will that translate to success on the NBA odds board? Portland have just opened as 4.5-point road dogs at 888sport as we go to press, which doesn’t appear to give them much wiggle room against a Jazz team that’s 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS in their last five outings. However, Donovan Mitchell (sprained right ankle) is out for Utah’s last three regular-season games, and Mike Conley (tight right hamstring) has been ruled out for Wednesday. Maybe there’s some betting value in the Blazers after all.

The Oregonians

It was a lot easier to poke holes in the Trail Blazers earlier this year, when they were several games above .500 despite posting a negative point differential. That’s not the case anymore. The return of Jusuf Nurkic to the starting five, and the arrival of Norman Powell at the trade deadline, have shored up Portland’s rotation significantly. They’re 8-1 SU and 6-3 ATS over their past nine games, vaulting into fifth place in the Western Conference and improving their point differential on the season to plus-1.5.

Sixth place happens to be the cut-off point for automatic qualification into the playoffs, which is where Portland’s motivation for Wednesday comes in. The Jazz are first in the West, which is also worth fighting for, but they can more easily afford a loss; they’re two games ahead of the Phoenix Suns with three games left for each club, and it’s not like Utah’s title chances will go down much if they slip into second place.

Not In Tournament

The Trail Blazers, on the other hand, are tied with the Dallas Mavericks at 40-29, one game ahead of the 39-30 Los Angeles Lakers in seventh. Slipping into the play-in tournament would deal Portland’s title hopes a serious blow – they’d have to win at least one of up to two games against decent competition (this is the West, after all) just to get the No. 7 or No. 8 seed. The Blazers have to treat Wednesday’s contest as seriously as they would a must-win game.

Given the stakes for the respective teams, I’m content to recommend a slight lean towards Portland for your NBA picks. Because it’s a slight lean, make it a small bet, even if the juice on the Blazers is a relatively friendly –109, then sit back and enjoy what should be a competitive contest.

NBA Pick: Trail Blazers +2 (–109) at GTbets

Trail Blazers +2 (-109)

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*The pick reflects the line at the moment the writer made the play, the odds at the beginning of this article show the live line movement. Since the lines might vary, don’t forget to refer back to our live odds.