Jazz vs. Wizards Prediction The Utah Jazz are only a .500 team on the road this season and face a Washington Wizards team tonight that is 22-13 straight up on their home court. Can Utah prevail and cover the spread as the favorites in D.C.? Game Snapshot 535 Utah Jazz at 536 Washington Wizards Monday, March 18, 2019 Capital One Arena at 7:05PM ET TV: NBCSWA Compare odds from multiple different online sportsbooks and shop for the best lines at our NBA Odds & Betting Page. Public Betting Information According to oddsmakers at BetNow.eu, the Jazz are a 5.5-point favorite on the spread line. The over-under is set at 228.5 points. As of Monday afternoon, 73 percent of public bets are siding with visiting Utah. Check out our NBA Public Betting Page for up-to-date info. Jazz roll past Nets Utah won its third consecutive game Saturday night at home with a 114-98 triumph over Brooklyn. The Jazz (40-29) led 59-42 at halftime en route to the win. Utah shot 39-of-91 from the floor, 13-of-36 from 3-point distance plus 23-of-31 at the free throw line. Donovan Mitchell paced the Jazz with 24 points on 9-of-21 shooting including 4-of-7 from 3-point land plus 2-of-2 at the charity stripe. He also notched six rebounds and four assists. Rudy Gobert tallied 23 points, 17 boards plus three blocked shots. Derrick Favors added 13 points, 12 boards and three blocks. Wizards outlast Grizzlies Washington earned a 135-128 home victory Saturday night against Memphis to improve to 30-40 on the season and 22-13 at home. The Wizards outscored the Grizzlies by a count of 30-25 in the fourth quarter to put it away. Washington shot 41-of-81 from the floor, 17-of-35 from 3-point distance plus 36-of-43 from 3-point distance. Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 40 points on 12-of-17 shooting including 9-of-12 from 3-point range plus 7-of-9 at the free throw line. He added seven assists, five boards plus two steals. Jabari Parker notched 20 points off the bench plus 11 rebounds and two assists. Bobby Portis added 18 points, six caroms and two assists. NBA Betting Trends Utah The Jazz are 5-1 ATS in their last six road games. Utah is 7-18-1 ATSin its last 26 Monday games. Washington The Wizards are 7-1 ATS in their last eight games overall. Washington is 5-1 ATS in its last six home games. Prediction: Washington has played well at home much of the season while Utah has been up-and-down on the road. With the Wizards capable of getting into a shootout and prevailing with anyone, I'm going to take the points with them especially since Beal is red-hot right now. Gobert could be a problem in the middle, but Washington matches up well enough everywhere else. NBA DAILY PREDICTION: WASHINGTON WIZARDS +5.5<doc-sep>Game Info When: Monday, March 18 at 7:00 pm Eastern Time Where: Capital One Arena TV: NBC Sports Washington Injury Report Wizards: John Wall (Out, Heel), Dwight Howard (Out, Back) Jazz: Thabo Sefolosha (Day-to-Day, Hamstring), Dante Exum (Day-to-Day, Knee) What to Watch for Jabari Parker is having a great month Parker is having arguably his best month of his season. He’s transitioned pretty well to his role on the Wizards and the numbers back it up. Since March 1, he has averaged 17.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 61.9 percent from the field. Wizards need to contain Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert Much like Bradley Beal, the young and talented Donovan Mitchell is leading his team in points scored with 23.6 per game this season. He’s also having an impressive offensive month, averaging 28 points per game. While Gobert is trailing Mitchell with 15.4 points per game, he is leading the Jazz with 12.9 rebounds per game. Utah is on a three-game win streak and are coming off an easy win over the Nets where Mitchel dropped 24 points and Gobert added 23 points and 17 rebounds. Does Bradley Beal have another 40-point night to give? It’s possible. In his last two games, Beal has gone off with 40 points. Since All-Star break the shooting guard has averaged 31.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game. The moral of the story is never sleep on Bradley Beal. A random moment in Wizards – Jazz history: A 38-year-old Michael Jordan scored 44 points against Utah in 2001.<doc-sep>Five Utah players scored in double figures tonight led by Donovan Mitchell with 19 points and Jae Crowder with 18 as the Jazz overwhelmed the Wizards in a 116-95 blowout win on Monday night. Utah didn’t mess around as they beat the Wizards in a methodical, business-like, ‘we know we’re better than you and we’re going to out-execute you to death’ kind of way. The Jazz did nothing flashy but played rock-solid defense, had the ball swinging from side to side, and knocked down timely three-pointers. After a slog it out first quarter where the Wizards found themselves down 31-24, they got a spark off of the bench in Jabari Parker. He was outstanding in the first half getting out in transition and slithering his way to the hole on a few occasions for 10 first-half points. Washington trimmed Utah’s lead to 3 near the end of the half, but lost all of that momentum as the Jazz ended the half on a 7-0 run to take a double-digit lead into the half. The Wizards finally found their footing on the offensive end in the second half. However, the defensive end continued to be a huge issue tonight as they couldn’t get timely stops when they needed them and Utah opened the game up outscoring the Wizards 34-26 in the third quarter for a 91-71 lead. Scott Brooks waived the white flag early in the fourth quarter so guys like Troy Brown, Sam Dekker, and Jordan McRae could close out the game in garbage time. Takeaways Utah puts the clamps on Bradley Beal Bradley Beal was named the Eastern Conference player of the week earlier in the day — but the Utah Jazz could have cared less. Utah held Beal to just five points in the first half as they made everything a struggle. Whether it was attacking the hole or curling off of screens for a jumper, Beal couldn’t get clean looks tonight evidenced as he didn’t score his first field goal of the game until the 5:28 mark in the second quarter. Things didn’t get easier for Brad in the second half. Utah was physical with him, played excellent team defense, and forced him to take tough midrange shots. He scored just 15 points tonight on 4-of-12 shooting and Utah made him earn every single point he scored. If the Wizards want to win these games, they’re going to have to play defense at some point The Jazz had their moments in the first half where it looked like they might open things up but the Wizards were pesky. Washington had an answer for every Utah run early on. The issue was, they could never get a stop when they so desperately needed one. i'm by no means an nba coach but leaving Joe Ingles and Kyle Korver wide open from 3 doesn't seem like a good defensive gameplan — Bullets Forever (@BulletsForever) March 18, 2019 Poor interior defense followed by even lazier three-point defense isn’t an ideal gameplan when trying to mount a comeback or get over the hump and take the lead. Washington couldn’t get stops when they needed them in the first half and as a result, all it took was a mini run by the Jazz in the third quarter to blow this one open. Up Next: The Wizards (30-41) head to Chicago to take on their old friend Otto Porter and the Chicago Bulls (19-52) on Wednesday night.<doc-sep>It was one of the most lackluster performances in weeks for the Wizards, who had won six of their previous 10 games and three of their previous four during this homestand. Despite Beal’s early struggles — he missed five of his six shots in the first half, including all three of his three-point attempts — Trevor Ariza made his first four shots and the Wizards pieced together enough offense to remain within 57-45 at halftime.<doc-sep>
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 8: Jabari Parker #12 of the Washington Wizards smiles against the Cleveland Cavaliers on February 8, 2019 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images) The road-trippin’ Utah Jazz need to take care of business against Bradley Beal, Jabari Parker and the Washington Wizards. We’ve officially hit the homestretch of the 2018-19 season. With just 13 games left to play on their regular season schedule, the Utah Jazz will tip-off their last extended road trip of the year — a four-game tour of the lottery-bound East — on Monday night against the Washington Wizards. The Jazz haven’t dropped a game to the Wiz since 2016, and former All-Star point-man John Wall is out of commission for the next 12 months, but they still need to put their best foot forward and take care of business. With Utah in a virtual tie with the eighth-place LA Clippers, while simultaneously being within just two games of the fourth-place Portland Trail Blazers, it’s imperative that the Jazz beat the teams they’re supposed to. Offensively, Donovan Mitchell and company should be able to shred the Wiz, who surrender the third-most paint points (51.6 per) and have the third-worst 3-point defense (opponents shoot 37 percent from deep) in the NBA. But at three and a half games behind the No. 8 Miami Heat, the Wizards are technically still in a playoff race. And they also have the firepower requisite to cause Utah some problems on the other side of the ball. First and foremost, Bradley Beal is having the best year of his seven-year career. He’s putting up 26 points, six assists and five boards per game and boasts an effective field goal percentage just under 55. He’s dropped 40 in back-to-back games, and knocked down a combined 16 triples along the way. Although Beal can score from virtually anywhere on the court, and he has a real penchant for firing above-the-break triples, the Jazz D would be well-served to keep him out of the paint. 27 percent of his shot attempts come within three feet of the hoop, where he finishes at a 70 percent clip — a really nice clip for a 6-foot-5 guard. For comparison, Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who is about to break Dwight Howard‘s record for dunks in a season — converts on 73 percent of his shots in the same zone. As ever, the perimeter D needs to be on-point, but the Stifle Tower must also make his presence known down low. While the Wizards have been up and down, playing .500 ball since the trade deadline, their offense has actually reached a higher level. Since February 7, Washington boasts the league’s fourth-best offense, scoring nearly 114 points per 100 possessions. Beal has been the most impactful player offensively over that stretch, but he actually hasn’t been the Wizards’ most positive contributor in terms of net rating. That honor goes to Jabari Parker, whose 4.8 net positive leads the team (although Beal’s on/off net swing is better). Simply put, Parker has been the picture of scoring efficiency since he replaced Otto Porter in our nation’s capital. In 16 games with Washington, he’s averaging 19 points and 10 boards per 36 minutes and is scoring the rock at a 56-percent clip from the floor. Their efforts notwithstanding, the Jazz should get the W here. I, for one, wouldn’t be surprised if we have a shoot-out on our hands, but I’ll still take the good guys. PREDICTION: Utah Jazz 115, Washington Wizards 109 Follow along during the game with our live comment stream in the thread below. Go Jazz!