NBA 2022/23, on Thursday, 24.11.2022
In the shadow of the all-overshadowing World Cup in Qatar, a duel between a league leader and a last-place finisher takes place in the NBA: The outstanding Utah Jazz welcome the Detroit Pistons.
I don’t think the “Bad Boys” from the state of Michigan will celebrate their first away win in the Vivint Smart Home Arena, of all places. Based on this assumption, I have also designed my Jazz Pistons tip.
It’s amazing what these dead-beat Jazz can do. In the offseason still the big sellout – where really everything, but also really everything that had rank and name was sold – and now still front runners?
At any rate, this is the incredible reality in which NBA fans find themselves after just seven weeks of play. With a record of 12 wins to 7 losses, no franchise is better in the entire Western Conference.
With the Pistons, Utah now also gets an opponent in front of its fists, who, as is well known, has had nothing to report in the NBA for years. The Pistons are even swirling steadily towards their eighth straight loss!
These wildly different no-name Jazz are so successful at the moment that they are putting the fear of God into even the most seasoned teams – Utah have played eleven of their 18 games this season against franchises with a positive record.
The fact that the Salt Lake City franchise won eight of those games against the NBA’s crème de la crème speaks for itself. Compared to what they have already shown against the Suns and Trail Blazers, the duel with the Pistons should be a piece of cake.
Fans of long-term bets beware: Because in the next section, I reveal a statistic that suggests a bold conclusion, but one that should be crowned with success following the laws of numbers.
Because over the last 20 seasons, consisting of 82-regular-season games, 91% of NBA teams that won at least 12 of their first 20 NBA games ended up qualifying for the playoffs.
The Jazz – as already pointed out – belong to this group of teams that started the season strong. Nevertheless, the injury to Mike Conley, which he suffered last Saturday, could put the brakes on the Yellow and Blue’s strong run.
After all, one of their best eight players will be missing from now on. This could indeed come back to haunt them against one or two teams from the upper regions of the table, but I repeat myself: these Pistons pose no threat to the Jazz.
The Pistons are going through a rough patch right now. The Bad Boys have allowed nearly 120 points over their seven-game losing streak for every 100 times the opponent has had possession of the ball.
This, of course, has to do with injury woes: first-round pick Cade Cunningham has been injured for four games and Detroit is seriously considering sidelining him for the rest of the season as a precaution – better safe than sorry!
Devastating for the Pistons, of course, is their away weakness! For out of the total of 10 NBA outings, not a single one has been won. Consequently, I would be greatly surprised if they will now break this curse at the league leader of all places!
Now it may surprise the reader at this point, but in my Utah Jazz Detroit Pistons tip I will not tick off a win for the home side.
Because this would only bring in a microscopic win rate of 1.10 even with the best sports betting providers on the betting markets.
And even though I think Utah will win in the end, the Jazz Pistons odds rather advocate a handicap bet on the underdog.
The Bad Boys, after all, have never trailed by more than 12 points from the respective winning team in any of their last five NBA losses.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pistons can keep up this time as well – especially since the opponent is not a true “superstar franchise”.
Consequently, the handicap bet of 15.5 points ahead offered by the provider Bwin for odds of 1.55 makes a lot of sense to me!
Conclusion: The Jazz are one of the basketball mysteries of the 2022/23 NBA season, because although the big names are gone, they continue to hold the upper hand especially in duels with top teams.
However, the recent injury to Mike Conley could disrupt their flow of play from now on, so that against a team like Detroit only a commanding, but no clear victory seems possible.
The Bad Boys have not yet won any of their 10 NBA away games, but they have always been within striking distance. I therefore expect a spirited – if perhaps again unsuccessful – performance from the Pistons this time!
My Jazz Pistons tip: The visitors will win with a handicap of +15.5.
