Utah vs Washington Free NBA Pick

The All-Star Break has come and passed. Will the break be a blessing or hinderence to the teams that have haven’t lived up to their potential during the first half of the season? The Utah Jazz are one of those teams and they face the Washington Wizards in their first game after the All-Star break. Tip-off is scheduled for Thursday, February 18th at 7:00 ET from the Verizon Center on ESPN. The NBA betting lines have not been released for this game at the time of writing, but the Jazz closed the first half of the season by winning seven in a row while the Wizards closed the first half going 3-7.

Utah Jazz Vs Washington Wizards Free NBA Pick

When: Thursday, February 18th, 2016, 7:00 PM ET Where: Verizon Center TV: ESPN Radio: XM 212 Stream Option: Watch ESPN Opening NBA Odds: TBA    

Why bet on the Utah Jazz

The last couple of weeks of the first half of the season were very good to the Utah Jazz (26-26), as they went on a 7-game winning streak before finally dropping one right before the break. That run was good enough to get them back to .500, and now has them sitting in the 8th spot in the Western Conference. While the Jazz are still just 9-16 away from home, they did win 2 out of 3 in their final road trip before the break. Where Utah might have a bit of an edge in this one is in their performance against teams with a losing record. They have gone a respectable 14-10 against those teams this season, and may be able to hold onto a playoff spot if they can continue that trend. The Jazz are averaging 97.8 PPG, and are giving up 96.4 PPG.

Why bet on the Washington Wizards

This was supposed to be a day off for both of these teams, but they are playing due to the fact that they have to make up a postponed meeting from back in January when a huge dump of snow fell in Washington. The Wizards (23-28) need to dig out from the hole that they created for themselves in the first half of the season, which they ended by going just 3-7 on their last 10 games. While you would think that a home stand might be the start of the cure for the Wizards, the reality is that they have been better on the road this season, and are just 11-16 at home. All of that said, they still have life, and are just 3 games out of a playoff spot. The Wizards are averaging 102.7 PPG, and are giving up 105.4 PPG.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

I think that the Jazz are going to be able to pick up right where they left off in the first half, and that means picking up a win against a struggling Washington Wizards side. It should be a pretty close one, though.

Utah Jazz 102 Washington Wizards 98