Hornets vs. Jazz Preivew
Salt Lake City, UT – The New Orleans Hornets were upset in their last game by an opponent that came in with one victory, but Chris Paul may have seen it coming.
The Hornets look to get back on track and snap a three-game losing streak against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, with Paul facing Deron Williams in a matchup of star point guards.
Oddsmakers from online sports book BroburySports.com have made the Jazz -4 point spread favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Hornets. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 73% of more than 210 bets for this game have been placed on the Hornets +4.
New Orleans (11-2) entered Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers tied for the NBA’s best record, but the visiting Hornets trailed entering the fourth quarter for the first time this season and fell 99-95.
While the Hornets had won three in a row, those victories came by a combined 13 points, and they managed only 75 points against lowly Sacramento on Sunday.
“For the past three or four games, we’ve just been getting by,” Paul said after a 14-point, six-assist performance versus the Clippers. “They say winning cures all. But hopefully, with this loss, we’ll get back to paying attention to what we’ve got to do as a unit defensively.”
The loss overshadowed another big game from David West, who scored 30 points. The forward, averaging 18.8 points, scored a season-high 34 against Cleveland on Friday.
The Hornets lost their last three meetings with the Jazz last season, but Paul missed all of the defeats due to injury. Williams averaged 19.3 points and 12.0 assists in the four-game season series as the Jazz moved to 15-4 in their last 19 against New Orleans.
Williams scored a season-low 12 points in each of Utah’s last two games, going 7 for 27 from the field. Utah, though, won both contests, giving it three victories in its last four.
The reserves allowed the Jazz to overcome the off nights from their star guard. Swingman C.J. Miles scored a season-high 25 points and went 7 of 10 from 3-point range in a 103-94 win at Portland on Saturday, then had 20 points in a 94-83 victory over Sacramento on Monday.
Miles is averaging 11.7 points on the season.
While the Jazz’s bench is averaging 23.5 points, among the lowest in the NBA, Utah’s backups have scored 35.5 a game in the last two.
“They have been instrumental in a lot of our wins,” Williams said. “They have come together. They know what their objective is – to get after people defensively, execute, to get out and run – and they do it.”
The Jazz are 4-3 at home, matching last season’s seven-game start at EnergySolutions Arena. They went 32-9 in Salt Lake City in 2009-10.
Utah has won seven of eight home meetings with New Orleans.
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