Cavaliers vs Jazz

Kenny Ducey breaks down Monday's NBA matchup between the Utah Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers and shares his best bet.

Those should be further exposed by a stout Cavaliers defense, and the painstakingly slow pace of this game should help us get under this already-low number. The Jazz rank seventh in 3-point accuracy this season and fourth in frequency (41.5%). In addition to playing lockdown defense, the Cavaliers also play at a snail’s Pace. On top of this, Cleveland has shot the three a decent bit at 37% of the time, which ranks around the league average, and the Jazz have had an even-better 3-point defense than the Cavaliers at 34.2%. Unders are also 10-5 when the Cavaliers have been home favorites this season. The Cavaliers have been something of an unders machine of late. The Cavaliers are fresh off a stellar outing against a very dangerous Mavericks offense, allowing just Over their last five games, the Jazz have the 20th-ranked offense in the NBA. The Jazz have also been playing in much slower over the last four games as their Pace of just 98.56 sits 19th in the NBA during that span. The Jazz have dealt with some injuries in recent weeks, which has contributed in part to their slide. The question, now, becomes one of just how good the Jazz are at full strength. The Cavaliers are playing incredibly well at the moment, entering as winners of three straight, including two against the [Dallas Mavericks](https://www.actionnetwork.com/nba-game/mavericks-cavaliers-score-odds-december-17-2022/172746).

The Utah Jazz visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night. We continue our NBA odds series with a Jazz-Cavaliers prediction and pick.

Their identity lies on the defensive end of the court as they rank first in both points allowed and defensive rating. With the arrival of Mitchell, Garland has thrived as a secondary scoring option. Mitchell averages 29.5 PPG and 4.6 APG while shooting 50% from the field and 42% from three. The Cavs are also a strong rebounding team which ranks fifth in rebound differential and fourth in rebound rate. The journeyman guard has primarily spent his career in a complimentary role off the bench but is taking full advantage of his time as the lead guard in Utah’s offense. The Cavaliers are solid offensively where they rank 24th in scoring but 12th in offensive rating. While Markkanen is (rightfully) getting the bulk of the credit for Utah’s success this season, the play of guard Jordan Clarkson cannot be overlooked. For the season, Markkanen is shooting 53% from the field, 42% from three, and 84% from the line. Former Cavalier Lauri Markkanen is the star of the show for Utah. The Jazz is 18-14 against the spread while 50% of their games have gone over. The Cavaliers are 16-13-2 against the spread while 61% of their games have gone under. Utah has been the feel-good story of the Western Conference as they’ve vastly outperformed expectations.

The Cavs will be looking for their fourth consecutive victory, and third straight one at home on Monday, with the Utah Jazz coming to town.

This is the first game of a back-to-back for Utah as well; they’ll be taking on the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday. Bickerstaff should be looking to expand the bench a bit here, though, which is something that he’s appeared hesitant to do, and against this Jazz team coming in, and in general, that could enable the Cavs’ key threats to be fresher later. Lastly, it is a bit deflating that in his first potential game back playing the Cavaliers in Cleveland, Sexton won’t be in action, as he’s out with a hamstring strain. One should look out for the Jazz to be pulling from range in transition, too, and Markkanen, Beasley and others could be doing so, for instance. Despite that, this Utah team is one that can be really dangerous if they get going, and it could be a difficult matchup if the Cavs don’t come out playing with urgency. Utah started the season off scorching hot, like the Cavaliers, and has since been up-and-down, and has been 3-3 in their last six contests.

Analyzing Monday's Utah Jazz at Cleveland Cavaliers odds and lines, with NBA expert picks, predictions and best bets.

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Mitchell takes on Utah, the team he played for during the first five years of his career.

The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Utah Jazz 122-99 in Donovan Mitchell's first game against Utah since getting traded.

He scored 24 for the Jazz against Cleveland in his return. “I needed the strength of that relationship to be good for us to have any type of success. “I went to his house with the sole intention of spending time and talking about what was coming up and what he needed from me and what I needed from him as we were going to go into this journey together,” Hardy said. The Cavs seem to be going places with Mitchell flying their plane to the third-best record in the NBA (21-11) and top mark at home (15-12). “It was wild how it happened, but we were going over different things and it just happened,” Mitchell said. Mitchell has flourished in Cleveland, off to the best start of his career with a scoring average of 29.3 points per game.