With the 2015-16 NBA All-Star Weekend now a thing of the past, we move on to the 2nd half of the 2015-16 season with the 1st games being on Thursday night the 18th of February 2015 with the Western Conference 26-26 Utah Jazz playing the Eastern Conference 23-28 Washington Wizards with the game being played at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. with the tip-off at 7:10 PM ET.
Ironic both these team entered the All-Star weekend with losses and now come into the 2nd half seeking a spot in the playoffs this season. Currently the Jazz are an 8th seed in the West, while the Wizards who last year with contenders in the East in the postseason have a good team despite their struggling this season. Fans are wondering who if this opening night for the 2nd half and a triple-header who will take the victory in this 1st game of the 3?
If you’re a fan of the Utah Jazz and Bet on NBA at SBG sportsbook you know that as the 1st half of the NBA season ended your team lost in New Orleans to the Pelicans 100-96 and that broke their winning streak of 7 games. That loss to the Pelicans came was their 2nd game on the road and in the 1st they beat the Mavericks in OT. In that loss to the Pelicans were led by D. Favors who made 11 of his 15 shots for 29 points, followed by R. Gobert who has a double- double with 12 rebounds and 14 points, while G. Hayward scored 21 points in the game.
All their top scorers had a good game with the exception of R. Hood who in the ultimate 4 games scored at least 23 points, but in that Big East game he only managed scoring some 15 points. Regardless the Utah team is set to take another shot at staying in the win column for the remainder of this season, since last season after All-Star weekend they went 19-10 to finish. But to beat the Wizards could be difficult since Utah has lost their ultimate 3 games against Washington. The Jazz presently to date has averaged scoring some 96.5 points each game this season.
If you’re a fan of the Washington Wizards you are aware that the team entered the All-Star weekend with a 99-92 loss to the Bucks of Milwaukee on Thursday the 11th which left them 3 games short of the East’s final playoff slot.
Their struggling to date has come from their rebounding as in their last game with Milwaukee they had 38 rebounds while the Bucks has 58, and presently rank as the 3rd worst rebounding team in the Eastern Conference, as each game they have only accumulated on average some 39.7 rebounds.
The Wizards also struggles completing only 6 of their 32-3 point attempts in that Thursday game which is not common place for Washington, as they actually rank 5th in the NBA shooting 36.3% on 3-pointers. In their last game with the Bucks the Wizards only player that had a decent game was their point guard, All-Star J. Wall who had a double-double for his 5th consecutive game with 11 assists and some 16 points. He also only made 5 of his 19 3-point attempts and also gave up 7 turnovers in the game.
So with their star Wall not playing his normal game, and without support from the balance of the team, all that indicates that the Wizard could struggle in this game, since they in their ultimate 10 games have lost 7.
The online wagering prediction for this 1st game of the 2nd half of the NBA 2015-16 seasons is that Utah will prevail on the road and beat the Wizards 100-89!