Wednesday NBA: Utah Jazz (3-4) at Boston Celtics (7-1)
The chances that Utah wins in Boston is remote enough, but it drops to basically zero if the Jazz are without star point guard Deron Williams tonight-and they might be.
Utah is currently an 11.5-point betting underdog on WagerWeb.com.
Williams, one of the league’s best, did not participate in practice Tuesday after he left Monday’s game against the Knicks because of a bruised right calf. Meanwhile, backup point guard Ronnie Price also missed practice with a strained left big toe. Price is questionable as is Williams, with the latter again suggesting he would not be playing if Price were healthy — Williams is averaging 21.4 points, 10.7 assists, and 4.9 rebounds per game. There is only one other point guard on Utah’s roster, and that’s rookie Eric Mayor, who has played all of 16 minutes this season.
Without Williams and Price, the Jazz would be left with just nine players in uniform, already missing C.J. Miles, Kyle Korver and Matt Harpring. They were so shorthanded for practice on Tuesday that they could only play 3-on-3.
“We just have to play,” Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. “We can’t call [the games] off. Just see what happens, see who shows up and who’s able to play. That’s part of it.”
Utah might struggle to reach 80 points against a Boston team allowing a league-leading 84.4 points per game on 42.1 percent shooting.
And while Utah did win in New York on Monday, it hasn’t won consecutive games since March 28-30 of last season (a stretch of 16 games). This year’s Jazz are giving up 102.4 points per game this season, while opponents are shooting 41.7 percent from behind the 3-point line (fourth worst in the league).
Yet the Jazz have won four of the last six meetings against Boston, including two of the last three at the Garden.
NBA Betting at WagerWeb.com
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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