Prediction – Jazz 104, Knicks 99
Call me crazy for picking the Jazz to finally break their self-imposed curse of dropping duds after nice wins, but I think they’re finally going to pull it together enough to get a solid home win against a less than daunting New York squad. The Knicks haven’t exactly been lighting the world on fire of late as they’ve dropped four of their last five and seven of their last ten, and as they find themselves in the midst of a rugged six-game Western Conference road trip, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see them falter in the contest tonight.
Nevertheless, as I mentioned, during Utah’s recent slump that’s lasted nearly two months, they’ve dropped plenty of winnable games to beatable teams, so it wouldn’t be all that shocking to see them continue that trend and struggle once again tonight. However, I like their chances of performing well in each of the keys that I mentioned and if they truly come through in those areas, the Knicks will be hard-pressed to outmatch them.
Next: Utah Jazz injury report: Gobert probable, Jerebko questionable for Friday night
The Jazz and Knicks will tip-off at 8:30 PM MT on ESPN in a bout that, win or lose, will hopefully bring a significant increase of attention on rookie sensation Donovan Mitchell. He’s been absolutely phenomenal all season long and if he can replicate his special night from Wednesday against the Kings, it could go a long way in solidifying his Rookie of the Year case.