New York Knicks vs Utah Jazz: Best Bets and Predictions

After an absolutely heartbreaking loss to the Lakers, The New York Knicks will look to bounce back against Utah tonight.

This will be the second West Coast game out of 5 straight for the Knickerbockers, so they need to find a way to win the winnable games.

While the Jazz are a good team, they’ve been slumping as of late so the Knicks should come in with the possibility of a win on their minds.

There’s been some speculation that Donovan Mitchell is growing unhappier by the day with the Jazz organization and wants to be a part of a larger market in the near future.

Seeing how he’s from New York and his father works within the Mets organization, some fans think it’s only a matter of WHEN and not IF he comes home to play for the Knicks.

Expect a big game out of Spida.

Here are your Best Bets for tonight’s New York Knicks game

But the Knicks have a guy on their team who has been playing a bit better as of late and for some reason loves beating up on Utah.

That man’s name is none other than Julius Randle.

Randle in his last 5 outings against Utah has put up monster stat lines, scoring over 30 in 3 of those contests and recording a double-double in each of the last 3 as a member of the Knicks.

As per WynnBet:

Spread:

Knicks +8 (-110)
Jazz -8 (-110)

Moneyline:

Knicks: +280
Jazz: -360

Total:

218.5 (Over -110/Under -110)

So, I’ll start this one off by saying I really do think the Knicks have a chance to win this one outright, but that may just be my constant Knicks bias creeping into my brain.

The reason being that Utah just got back D-Mitch from injury so he’s likely still on a bit of a pitch count.

Sure, you could point to the 27 points he scored in just 21 minutes against Brooklyn the other day, but they aren’t exactly stopping anyone on the perimeter with Kyrie Irving or Patty Mills.

Mitchell is likely going to see a whole lot of RJ Barrett’s lockdown defense in this game.

Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles have been ruled out, while Jordan Clarkson and Rudy Gay are questionable for the game.

If both Clarkson and Gay play, no chance I’m risking it by taking the moneyline on this game, but it would certainly make the Over look a lot sexier.

Speaking of the Over, the Knicks have been playing at a much faster pace as of late and in turn, scoring more points per game.

My formula has been working as of late – when the Knicks play teams that lead the league in pacing, they speed up and in turn score a whole lot more than normal.

For example against the Lakers who are 2nd in the league in pace, they went over the point total within regulation and didn’t even need OT to do so.

The same goes for when they played Sacramento…and Memphis…and San Antonio, etc etc etc.

The Jazz are currently 13th in pace but they’ve also played a huge chunk of their most recent games without their best player so that could have skewed the numbers a bit.

With Mitchell on the floor, the Jazz do play at a much higher tempo.

Therefore, if Clarkson and Gay play, I’m certainly slamming the Over.

Regarding the spread, 8 points is a lot to give up to an angry Knicks team who should have come away with the victory in Los Angeles but unfortunately, they just came out flat in the second half of that game.

The Knicks don’t do a whole lot of spread covering on the road but Utah ranks 4th worst at covering the spread as the home team this season.

I think if Clarkson and Gay sit out, I’m gonna get a little cheeky and play the Knicks ML and the Over but if either of them or both play, I’m taking the spread.

Final Verdict: Knicks +8 and Over 218.5