The Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers provide NBA fans with Monday’s nightcap.
The pregame narrative: Utah is one of the NBA’s worst teams and can’t be trusted on the road. I also have plays on Norman Powell and John Collins.
Check out my Jazz vs. Clippers same-game parlay predictions for Dec. 16.
Jazz vs. Clippers predictions
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Parlay: Clippers -6 + Powell over 2.5 threes + Collins over 14.5 points (+330)
Clippers -6 (-167): It hasn’t exactly been sunshine and rainbows for Jazz head coach Will Hardy.
The bench boss took over at the start of the 2022-23 season and has been progressively worse every year.
- 2022-23: 37-45 record, 12th in West, -0.7 net rating.
- 2023-24: 31-51 record, 12th in West, -5.1 net rating.
- 2024-25: 5-19 record, 14th in West, -9.5 net rating.
What was once a promising team that made six-straight playoff appearances under the direction of Quin Snyder has turned into a poverty franchise.
The Jazz have covered the spread just twice in their last eight contests, and only 10 times all season.
The head-to-head matchup favours the Clippers who have covered in three of the last four against Utah and own a top-five ATS record as the home favourite this season (4-2-0).
SGP legs
Powell over 2.5 threes (-240): Powell is having a resurgent season with the Clippers.
The 31-year-old has career highs in nearly every offensive category:
- Field goals attempted: 16.4, field goals made: 8.0
- 3-point field goals attempted 8.0, 3-point field goals made: 3.8
- 3-point percentage: 47.4%
- Points: 23.2
The former Raptor averaged his lowest PPG mark since his fourth season in the league last year with L.A. (13.9). He’s shooting the ball at a high level and his confidence has matched.
Powell finds himself at 14-to-1 odds to win the Most Improved Player award, with an increase of nearly 10 PPG from last year.
The Jazz allow the sixth-most made 3-pointers (3.28) and points (23.09) to opposing small forwards, per Betting Pros.
Powell has cleared this mark in five of his previous six appearances, shooting 46% on 50 attempts over that stretch.
Collins over 14.5 points (-152): As pitiful as the Jazz’s season has been, Collins has been one of the few bright spots so far.
He’s averaging the most points (18.1) since his 2019-20 season with the Atlanta Hawks, and he’s doing it on a team with the 22nd-ranked offensive rating (110.4).
The former first-round pick has been on a tear for the past five weeks. Since Nov. 12, Collins has averaged 19.6 PPG on .564/.510/.873 shooting splits. In those 14 games, he’s cleared this line 13 times.
Collins cleared the mark in 18 out of 24 games this season.
Picks made at 11:40 a.m. on 12/16/2024.
