The 10-6 LA Clippers will travel to face the 9-9 Utah Jazz in an NBA pro basketball game on Monday night. Tip off time from Utah is scheduled for 9PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by the NBA League Pass Channel.
During the lockout shortened season a year ago the Clippers won two of the three games. The Jazz covered the point spread in two of the three meetings. LA picked up a win on the Jazz’ home court in a 105-96 decision in late March.
Since a four game losing streak the Clippers have won two straight win a six point home win against Minnesota and on Saturday they play a complete game in a blowout 116-81 win at home against Sacramento as a -12 ½ point favorite. The Clippers finally put a pounding on a lesser team which is something we haven’t seen from this team. In their recent road trip a couple weeks back the team dropped three straight after defeating San Antonio 92-87 to kick off the trip. LA has played well this season on defense limiting teams to 42% shooting and on the offensive end of the court they make 48% of their shots. The starters were not pushed for too many minutes in the blowout of Sacramento.
The Utah Jazz is a tough team at home playing in altitude as evidenced by a 6-0 mark on their home court. This will be a tough spot for Utah playing their first home game after a three game road trip having ended in a 124-116 road loss to Houston on Saturday night. After beating New Orleans 96-84 the team loses to Oklahoma City and the Rockets in back to back games. Utah’s past two home games resulted in a two game win against Denver and Sacramento and failing to cover the point spread in each game. Utah is a more offensively charged team on their home court as they average 102 points a game. Al Jefferson leads the team with 16 points a game.
