The NBA champions Golden State will look to go 2-0 and they go on the road against one of the toughest and best teams around the NBA in the Utah Jazz themselves. Both squads won their opening games as GS beat Oklahoma 108-100 while Utah defeated the Kings on the road 123-117. Utah caused more problems than any other team in the NBA for the Warriors actually dominating them last year so the question is can they do so again or will GS show why exactly they are the champions?
Utah Jazz
The Jazz have been looking very good ever since the start of pre-season. After going unbeaten in pre-season, the Jazz opened up their season with a good win on the road against the Kings 123-117 behind Mitchell’s 24 pts and Gobert’s 19/15 double double. Utah will be extremely fired up for this game considering they are hosting the champions at home and it’s their home opener so expect some big performances by them. Injury wise, Rubio could be potentially out after jamming his thumb against Sacramento while Raul Neto has a hamstring injury and is doubtful and even if he’s healthy he probably would not be in the rotation. If Rubio can’t play then it’s likely that Exum would start at PG who made a good season start scoring 13 off the bench.
Predicted starting line-up – R.Rubio/D.Exum, D.Mitchell, J.Ingles, D.Favors, R.Gobert
Injuries – R.Rubio – Questionable, R.Neto – Doubtful
Golden State Warriors
The NBA champions have looked a little sloppy despite winning their opening day game against OKC who were without Westbrook. Curry and KD put on solid performances scoring 32 and 27 points respectively. Klay had a off night shooting 5/20 so we can expect him to have a good bounce back game. Warriors have got some injury news as Andre Iguodala hurt himself and is questionable to play. Draymond Green played 33 mins last game so there seemingly is no minutes restriction on him. As for DeMarcus Cousins he could still be out a long time and we should see Damian Jones continue to start at C after a very good opening day performance. Warriors will look to avoid a repeat of what happened to them in Salt Late in both games last season where they literally got wiped out.
Predicted starting line-up – S.Curry, K.Thompson, K.Durant, D.Green, D.Jones
Injuries – D.Cousins – Out, A.Iguodala – Questionable
Key Facts
Utah are one of the most red hot teams right now including pre-season (5-0) and regular season (1-0). Against NBA teams they’ve averaged 120 ppg in pre season and put up 123 in Sacramento on opening night.
Utah won season series 3-1 against GS last year. They went 2-0 against them at home winning both games by 30 and 40 points. An incredible average of 35 points per win.
Utah had the best defensive RTG in the NBA last season. GSW were 11th
However GS had a much better OFF RTG being 3rd while Utah were just 16th.
On average last year UTAH GSW games had 213.5 ppg. Utah averaged 114.7 while GS averaged just 98.8.
Utah went 28-13 at home last year while GS were 29-12 on the road which was a better record than it was at home for them.
These teams play a very different style. Warriors are fast paced shooting team (5th in pace last year) while Utah like to play slow grind out basketball (25th in pace last year)
Rudy Gobert has had a lot of success against the Warriors recently averaging 14.5 ppg in his last 6 regular season match ups against them.
Betting Tips and Predictions
Jazz have been a nightmare for the Warriors last season. Utah are one of those teams who like to play grind out basketball and Warriors have had problems playing against those sorts of teams. Warriors did not look that good in the opener, they seemingly just went through the motions and pulled out a win thanks to some poor closing by OKC. It’s not a secret that the Warriors don’t take the regular season as seriously anymore and that should give Utah an opportunity to win, especially behind that crazy home crowd that they have. Jazz to win is a worth value pick. Rudy Gobert over 13.5 pts is another pick simply because he’s played well and succeeded against GS in recent seasons as Warriors tend to have problems with bigs, Damian Jones won’t stop him let’s be fair here and the way Rudy looks right now you can expect him to get 16-18 pts. Also Klay Thompson over 18.5 pts is worth the try, can’t expect him to shoot as poorly as he did the other night.
Match Odds (TonyBet)
Utah Jazz Win – 2.27 (Regular Time – 2.37)
Golden State Warriors Win – 1.70 (Regular Time – 1.77)
Overtime – 13.00
Match Start – 20th October 2018 – 3:30am UK Time
