Monday Night NBA Action - Houston Rockets at Utah Jazz

BetUS NBA Basketball Sports Betting Odds: UTAH -7.5, Total 202.5

Here are some of the NBA pro basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• HOU has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total
• HOU has covered one of its last five road games
• HOU has lost four of its last five road games SU
• HOU has played five of its last seven road games UNDER the total
• UTAH has covered four of its last six games
• UTAH has covered six of its last 19 games
• UTAH has lost six of its last eight games SU
• UTAH has covered four of its last 13 home games
• UTAH has won 18 of its last 21 home games SU
• UTAH has played 12 of its last 16 home games UNDER the total

Also....

• UTAH has covered 12 of the last 18 meetings
• UTAH has won and covered weight of the last 12 meetings
• UTAH has won 11 of the last 13 meetings SU as the home team
• Thirteen of the last 19 meetings in Salt Lake City have gone UNDER the total
  

The Utah Jazz is a team that has become known over the years for shooting at a very efficient level and being able to move the ball around the halfcourt. Well, if the early going is any indication, this year it will be no exception. As usual, this team is shooting well (48%) and it is also distributing the ball pretty well (26 assists per game) behind the smooth floor leader Deron Williams, who is quite underrated and perhaps the best player in the NBA who has never been to the All-Star Game.

Of course, one of the challenges for this club has been figuring out a way to keep both Paul Millsap and Carlos Boozer productive by affording them enough playing time. After all, they both essentially play the same position (power forward) and Utah has people at center and small forward who are capable enough to log a lot of minutes. They have been successful thus far, as Millsap has played 48 minutes over the team's two games and has scored 33 points, a much higher rate than he produced last season. Boozer has been hitting the boards (11.5 rebounds a game) although his shot selection has not been so good (33.3% FG's).

Up front, there's still a hole. Mehmet Okur is day-to-day with an ankle sprain and had to give way to Kyrylo Fesenko in the last game against the Clippers. Fesenko can do some dirty work, and is complemented by Kosta Koufos, but they are not the duo you want full-time. A Boozer-Milsap duo would be better at the four and five spots. C.J. Miles, another of those role players Jerry Sloan likes so much, is out of action with a thumb injury. The Jazz also has to somehow get three-point production from somewhere else other than Williams while Kyle Korver is healing up from his knee injury.

There is the distinct possibility that early on in the season we could be getting some value with the Rockets, because the public perception is that this team is completely lost without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. The truth is that they are only partially lost without those players. Rick Adelman is one of the craftier coaches in the NBA, and he will figure out a way to keep this team in some kind of contention for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West.