Jazz vs Rockets

In the NBA's Western Conference, the 12th-place Utah Jazz and the 11th-place Houston Rockets square off on Thursday. These two clubs are no longer in the running to make the NBA Playoffs, even with a few games remaining in the regular season. With a 29–50 record, the Jazz had long since given up on the season after benching the most of its top players.

In addition to giving the Jazz's young players crucial floor experience, it has made Utah's performances in recent weeks mostly uncompetitive. Consequently, the Jazz have dropped their previous 13 games in a row and have not triumphed since March 15. In their most recent game, a 111-95 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, they were limited to fewer than 100 points for the first time this season at home.

Under head coach Ime Udoka, the Rockets improved greatly this season and appeared for a moment to have a chance to compete in the postseason. Regretfully, they faced competition from the Lakers and Warriors for the last play-in tournament slots, as both teams had been eclipsing Houston in recent weeks. The Rockets have nearly doubled their 22 victory total from the 2022–2023 season as they are at 39–40 on the year.

Under head coach Ime Udoka, the Rockets improved greatly this season and appeared for a moment to have a chance to compete in the postseason. Regretfully, they faced competition from the Lakers and Warriors for the last play-in tournament slots, as both teams had been eclipsing Houston in recent weeks. The Rockets have nearly doubled their 22 victory total from the 2022–2023 season as they are at 39–40 on the year.The Jazz have suffered 13 straight losses.

Utah's starting lineup consists virtually entirely of reserve players.For the first time this season, the Jazz failed to reach 100 points in their most recent visit to the Delta Center, shooting less than 40%.In their most recent game, the Rockets managed to end a five-game losing run.

This season, Houston has a perfect 3-0 record against Utah, having won their most recent visit to the Delta Center less than two weeks prior.This line started out at Rockets -3 but has now shot up to double digits. We find ourselves leaning toward Houston even though they are suddenly clear road favorites.

The guys that will represent these two teams on the floor simply differ drastically in caliber. All of the Jazz's starting players have been shut down, thus they will be relying on their bench players and inexperienced players to see out the season. Meanwhile, the Rockets defeated the Magic 46–34, with 37 points from Fred VanVleet. Houston should win this easily.