NBA Picks: New Orleans Hornets vs. Utah Jazz Odds: January 4th 2010

New Orleans Hornets vs. Utah Jazz
Free NBA Pick: Utah -7.5 -110 NBA odds
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Last week, on the day after Christmas, we cashed a ticket with the Utah Jazz in their 21 point home blowout win over Philadelphia. Here’s an excerpt from my write-up for that game:

A basic staple of my NBA handicapping philosophy is to support good teams coming off a bad game, or, even better, two bad games in a row. We’ve got that exact scenario in play tonight with the Utah Jazz. Jerry Sloan’s squad won two out of three to start their East Coast trip, but lost badly at Orlando and Miami to close out the trip. Prior to their loss at Miami, the Jazz had lost back-2-back games only once all season, and they’ve yet to lose three in a row at any point this year. Coming off a single defeat, the Jazz are 9-3 ATS this year, 8-1 in their last nine tries – the lone defeat coming in that loss against the Heat. Clearly, Utah is a team that responds well to adversity and steps up following a poor effort, exactly the situation that we find them in tonight.

The Jazz are in the exact same type of situation tonight. coming off consecutive losses against the Nuggets and Thunder. They’re at home, facing a Hornets team that is a woeful 2-13 SU, 5-10 ATS on the highway this losing eight of their last nine against Utah by double digit margins! The Hornets stole a win from Houston in their last outing, closing out the game on a 13-2 run after trailing throughout. Don’t expect a similar finish tonight at Energy Solutions Arena. 2* Take Utah.