Miami Heat vs Utah Jazz Prediction, 12/31/2022 Preview and Pick

Game: Miami Heat vs Utah Jazz

Date: Saturday, December 31, 2022

Location: Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, UT

TV: AT&T Sportsnet Southwest-Rocky Mountain

The Miami Heat are on their way to Vivint Arena on Saturday where they will take on the Utah Jazz.

The Heat stepped onto the hardwood against the Lakers and walked away with a win by a score of 112-98 in their last game. With respect to personal fouls, the Heat ended up with 15 and the Lakers had 16 personal fouls. They also converted 13 of their 36 attempts from downtown. Los Angeles ended up going 73.3% at the charity stripe by knocking down 11 of 15 tries. Moreover, Los Angeles grabbed 44 boards (8 offensive, 36 defensive) and earned 4 blocks. Los Angeles distributed 25 dimes and had 2 steals in the matchup. When it comes to defending, Miami allowed 48.1% from the field on 37 of 77 shooting. They also recorded 20 assists in this contest as well as creating 24 turnovers and earning 14 steals. Concerning grabbing boards, they collected a total of 37 with 10 of them being on the offensive end. At the charity stripe, the Heat converted 13 of their 16 tries for a rate of 81.3%. Miami walked away from the contest with a 47.8% FG percentage (44 out of 92) and made 11 of their 35 three-point shots.

Jimmy Butler is a guy who was a major factor for the game. Butler shot 61.1% from the floor and also dished out 4 assists. He was on the court for 35 minutes and also pulled down 5 rebounds. He totaled 27 points on 11 out of 18 shooting.

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Miami will enter this contest with a mark of 18-17 this year. They are averaging 108.2 pts per game (30th in the NBA) while connecting on 45.2% from the field. The Heat are shooting 34.0% on shots from 3-point land (435 of 1,279) and 82.2% from the free throw line. As a unit, Miami is grabbing 40.7 boards per game and has 833 assists for the season, which has them ranked 17th in the NBA in terms of passing the ball. They are turning it over 13.5 times per contest and as a basketball team they are committing 18.9 personal fouls every game.

Defensively, the Heat are forcing 16.5 turnovers every game while drawing 19.9 personal fouls. They are surrendering 36.2% on shots from beyond the perimeter while they are 4th in the NBA in PPG allowed (108.9). The Heat defense is giving up and opponent field goal percentage of 47.5% (1,406 of 2,959) and they relinquish 43.5 boards per game as a group. They are currently ranked 22nd in the NBA in giving up assists to the opposition with 898 relinquished for the campaign.

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the Jazz took a loss by a score of 112-107 when they played the Warriors. With respect to rebounds, Utah permitted Golden State to get 51 in all (10 on the offensive side). They finished 35.6% from distance by going 16 out of 45 and walked away from this one shooting 22 of 27 from the free throw line (81.5%). The Jazz allowed the Warriors to convert 37 out of their 87 attempts from the field which gave them a percentage of 42.5% for this game. When the final whistle blew, the Jazz ended up shooting 37 for 91 from the floor which gave them a rate of 40.7%. With regard to 3-point shots, Utah buried 15 out of 46 attempts (32.6%). They were able to make 18 of them for a clip of 69.2%. The Warriors earned 26 personal fouls for this game which took the Jazz to the charity stripe for 26 attempts. They coughed it up 12 times, while getting 3 steals in the matchup. The Jazz snagged 40 defensive boards and 10 offensive rebounds for a total of 50 for the contest.

Lauri Markkanen was important for the Jazz for the contest. Markkanen totaled 29 points in his 36 minutes on the court and had 1 assist for this game. He made 10 of 22 for this game giving him a rate of 45.5%, and added 16 rebounds.

Utah has a record of 19-18 so far this year. As an offensive unit, the Jazz are shooting 47.0% from the floor, which has them ranked 14th in basketball. Utah has accumulated 4,325 pts on the campaign (116.9 per game) and they collect 43.6 boards per contest. Their rate of earning assists is at 25.9 times per contest (10th in basketball) and they turn the ball over 15.4 times per contest. The Jazz commit 21.2 personal fouls per contest and they go 77.6% from the charity stripe.

The Utah defense allows 34.8% on 3-point shots (389 of 1,118) and their opponents are knocking down 78.2% of their shots from the charity stripe. They relinquish 23.3 dimes and 44.1 boards per contest, which is 6th and 21st in the league. The Jazz are ranked 23rd in the NBA in points allowed per game with 116.1. They are forcing their opponents into 14.5 turnovers on a nightly basis and allow teams to shoot 48.2% from the field (25th in basketball).

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Miami

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