Utah Jazz vs Cleveland Cavaliers Prediction, 12/20/2023 Preview and Pick

Game: Utah Jazz vs Cleveland Cavaliers

Date: Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Location: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, OH

TV: Bally Sports Ohio

The Cleveland Cavaliers (15-12) host the Utah Jazz (10-17) at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Wednesday.

The Jazz faced off with the Nets and notched a win by a score of 125-108 in their last contest. Utah ended the game having earned a 49.5% field goal percentage (45 out of 91) and knocked down 14 out of their 34 shots from distance. From the free throw line, the Jazz buried 21 of their 24 shots for a percentage of 87.5%. When talking about grabbing rebounds, they compiled 51 with 12 of them being offensive. They also doled out 30 assists for this contest in addition to forcing 13 turnovers and earning 6 steals. In the matter of the defense, Utah allowed their opponent to shoot 43.3% from the floor on 39 out of 90 shooting. Brooklyn totaled 25 assists and had 4 steals for the contest. In addition, Brooklyn snagged 36 rebounds (11 offensive, 25 defensive) and had 8 blocks. Brooklyn walked away from this one shooting 70.0% from the charity stripe by knocking down 14 of 20 attempts. They knocked down 16 of 39 attempts from 3-point range. In the matter of personal fouls, the Jazz ended up finishing with 20 and the Nets had 17 personal fouls.

Talen Horton-Tucker is a player who played a role for this contest. He accumulated 27 points on 11 out of 19 shooting. He played 31 minutes and also collected 3 rebounds. Horton finished shooting 57.9% from the floor and also recorded 6 dimes.

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Utah will enter this contest with a win-loss record of 10-17 on the season. They average 112.2 pts per game (22nd in the NBA) while hitting 45.1% from the floor. The Jazz are shooting 35.1% on shots beyond the perimeter (356 of 1,015) and 81.1% from the charity stripe. As a team, Utah is grabbing 46.5 boards per game and is sitting with 725 assists so far this year, which ranks 5th in basketball in terms of passing. They turn it over 17.0 times per contest and as a unit they commit 19.7 fouls per contest.

Defensively, the Jazz are forcing their opponents into 12.9 turnovers on a nightly basis while drawing 19.1 fouls. They are ranked 28th in the NBA in allowing assists with 758 surrendered for the year. The Jazz defensively are giving up a shooting percentage of 48.4% (1,194 of 2,468) and they relinquish 42.5 rebounds per contest as a unit. They relinquish 37.6% on shots from beyond the arc and they are ranked 24th in the league in points per game allowed (119.5).

For their last game, the Cavaliers went home victorious with a score of 135-130 when they faced the Rockets. The Cavaliers earned 24 defensive rebounds and 14 offensive boards for a total of 38 in the matchup. They also coughed up the ball 11 times, while recording 7 steals for the matchup. The Rockets had 32 fouls in this game which took the Cavaliers to the free throw line for 34 shots. They were able to knock down 22 of those for a rate of 64.7%. When talking about shooting from beyond the arc, Cleveland made 19 of 48 tries (39.6%). Overall, the Cavaliers went 47 for 97 from the floor which gave them a rate of 48.5%. The Cavaliers permitted the Rockets to make 47 of their 102 tries from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 46.1% for the game. They shot 36.4% from 3-point land by shooting 12 of 33 and finished the game at 24 out of 27 at the free throw line (88.9%). When talking about how they attacked the glass, Cleveland allowed Houston to snag 47 in all (15 on the offensive side).

Donovan Mitchell pitched in for the Cavaliers for the matchup. Mitchell had 37 points in his 45 minutes of playing time and accounted for 6 assists in this game. He knocked down 14 of 27 for the contest for a field goal percentage of 51.9%, and accounted for 1 rebound.

Cleveland has a record of 15-12 so far this year. The Cavaliers are committing 19.5 fouls per game and they hit 77.3% from the free throw line. They are earning an assist 25.3 times per game (23rd in the NBA) and they are losing possession via turnover 14.3 times per contest. Cleveland has 3,024 points this season (112.0 per contest) and they average 44.1 rebounds per game. When it comes to offense, the Cavaliers are hitting on 47.5% from the floor, which ranks them 12th in the league.

The Cavaliers on defense are ranked 9th in the league in PPG allowed with 111.9. They have forced 14.6 turnovers on a nightly basis and have let teams shoot 45.7% from the field (8th in basketball). The Cleveland defense allows 36.3% from downtown (332 of 915) and opponents are converting on 79.1% of their foul shots. They have relinquished 24.7 assists and 43.4 rebounds on a nightly basis, which ranks them 6th and 13th in the NBA.

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Utah

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