Heat vs. Jazz Prediction and Odds for Saturday, December 31 (Does Miami Have Value?)
By Peter Dewey
The Miami Heat are coming off a loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday night and are looking to bounce back in Saturday’s matchup in Utah against Lauri Markkanen and the Utah Jazz.
The Heat have been banged up all season long, so it will be important to follow the injury report for the team before placing a wager on this game.
The Jazz have been much better at home (12-5 straight up) than on the road (7-14 straight up), but they have covered in just four of 10 games as home favorites this season.
Miami has jumped into the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference, but it has performed below expectations so far in the 2022-23 campaign after making the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
Can Miami cover as a short underdog on New Year’s Eve?
Here are the latest odds:
Heat vs. Jazz Odds, Spread and Total
Heat vs. Jazz Prediction and Pick
This is more of a lean on this game, until we know exactly who is going to be in the lineup for Miami, but I like the Heat to at least cover in this game.
Miami hasn’t been great against the spread this season, but a lot of that has been because key players (Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Gabe Vincent, Tyler Herro) have missed time this season.
The Jazz are struggling to cover as home favorites, and they’ve taken a big step back from early in the 2022-23 season.
Miami has a strong defense (eighth in defensive rating) that can slow down this Jazz offense, and Utah ranks in the bottom five in the league in defensive rating so far this season.
The Jazz are now the No. 10 seed in the West, and they could end up falling further as the season goes on. I’ll lean with Miami.
Find Peter Dewey’s full betting record here.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.