jazz-3.5
Jazz squad team to take care of a road-weary Sacramento outfit at the Delta Center. Sacramento is playing its seventh road game in its last eight contests this evening. The Kings are a sorry 1-6 SU/ATS in those prior road games with the only win coming over the hapless Knicks.
Meanwhile, Utah has played just one road game (at Dallas) since Jan. 20 and the Jazz are on a quest for the playoffs. After Wednesday's 13-point home win over the Nuggets, Utah is now just a game and a half back of the Hornets for the final Western Conference playoff spot and two games back of Denver for the division lead.
Utah coach Jerry Sloan has also rightly held back some in practice with his team lately as this is the grueling part of the season. In the first meeting of the season, the Kings pounded the visiting Jazz by 36 points in mid-November. But that was a Utah team that was minus Andrei Kirilenko, Matt Harpring and Gordan Giricek.
Well, Kirilenko and Co., are ready for this one and so is Mehmet Okur. Ron Artest has suddenly turned the Kings into a post-up offensive team, but the Jazz can defend that type of attack. This is the first of a home-and-home weekend series, so Utah knows it has to hold serve before heading to Arco on Saturday.
And certainly it doesn't help that Brad Miller (15 ppg and a team-leading eight rebounds per contest) is out with a thumb injury for Sacramento. The Kings are still adjusting to life with Artest and life without Stojakovic. Sacramento is only 2-5 SU/ATS in its last seven games and the Jazz will add to that slide with this home win and cover tonight.
Jazz squad team to take care of a road-weary Sacramento outfit at the Delta Center. Sacramento is playing its seventh road game in its last eight contests this evening. The Kings are a sorry 1-6 SU/ATS in those prior road games with the only win coming over the hapless Knicks.
Meanwhile, Utah has played just one road game (at Dallas) since Jan. 20 and the Jazz are on a quest for the playoffs. After Wednesday's 13-point home win over the Nuggets, Utah is now just a game and a half back of the Hornets for the final Western Conference playoff spot and two games back of Denver for the division lead.
Utah coach Jerry Sloan has also rightly held back some in practice with his team lately as this is the grueling part of the season. In the first meeting of the season, the Kings pounded the visiting Jazz by 36 points in mid-November. But that was a Utah team that was minus Andrei Kirilenko, Matt Harpring and Gordan Giricek.
Well, Kirilenko and Co., are ready for this one and so is Mehmet Okur. Ron Artest has suddenly turned the Kings into a post-up offensive team, but the Jazz can defend that type of attack. This is the first of a home-and-home weekend series, so Utah knows it has to hold serve before heading to Arco on Saturday.
And certainly it doesn't help that Brad Miller (15 ppg and a team-leading eight rebounds per contest) is out with a thumb injury for Sacramento. The Kings are still adjusting to life with Artest and life without Stojakovic. Sacramento is only 2-5 SU/ATS in its last seven games and the Jazz will add to that slide with this home win and cover tonight.
