If You’re Not Betting the Utah Jazz, What Are You Doing?
If you haven't been betting on the Jazz, what have you been doing?
The Utah Jazz aren’t just the NBA’s hottest team, boasting an NBA-best 24-5 record. They’re a sports bettor’s dream, currently in the midst of one of the most historic “against-the-spread” runs in history.
They’re a sportsbook’s nightmare, one from which we hope they never awaken.
Incredibly, Utah has covered the spread in 19 of their last 21 games, earning 19 wins, one loss, and one push. To put this info into context, if you bet $100 on each of those games, you’d be sitting on over $1,600 profit today (at -110).
And it doesn’t even matter when you got in. As long as you got in, you made money.
The profit alone isn’t what makes this betting run impressive. In the last 30 years, only one team has had a more profitable streak – the 2014-2015 Atlanta Hawks, who had a 19-1 against-the-spread run over a 20-game span.
What the Jazz are doing is historic, especially when you consider they’ve been underdogs only twice this season. They have an average scoring margin of 9.7 points, according to Team Rankings, and are currently on an eight-game against-the-spread win streak.
Despite Utah consistently winning games, covering spreads, and earning savvy sports bettors tons of cash, the public is still putting enough money on Jazz opponents (Celtics, Bucks, Heat, 76ers, and Clippers) to limit the sportsbook’s liability.
In fact, despite owning the NBA’s best record, the Jazz (+1100) have just the fifth-best odds to win the NBA Championship in the FanDuel Sportsbook. The Lakers are the betting favorites, which is entirely understandable, but it's also an indication that the public is driving this market, too. Utah might be the team to stop Los Angeles.
We’ve gladly taken advantage of the fact that casual bettors are keeping Jazz spreads low, but the inevitable is coming.
The public will hop on the Jazz bandwagon soon enough, the market will catch up, and sportsbooks will make back all that was lost. But that hasn’t arrived yet, making the time to start betting on Utah now, if you haven't done so already.
And when the public catches on, it’ll be like wildfire. The sportsbooks are undoubtedly ready for it, and you’ll know it has arrived when an opening line is astronomical. Think double digits. Don’t take the bait.
It happened with the 2014-2015 Atlanta Hawks when they failed to cover a 17.5-point spread against the Minnesota Timberwolves, ending their historic run (the Hawks won that game by 12 points). History will repeat itself.
If you’re riding the Jazz train, bet them early when lines open. By the opening tip, the numbers may skyrocket now that the run garners so much media attention. And when the line is out of reach, know when to bail. Remember, the inevitable is coming, but it hasn’t arrived yet.
Until that happens, we will continue to pose the same question: If you’re not betting the Jazz, what the hell are you doing?
For more betting tips, follow @ErickValenciano on Twitter. Make sure you’re following our sports betting account, too: @OutKickBets.