Tonight the Utah Jazz host one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams in the Toronto Raptors. They’re coming off a blowout victory against the Lakers last night at the Staples Center, but the Raptors have to travel eastwards over timezones and face Utah in what could be a tough back-to-back. After missing last night’s fixture, Kawhi Leonard should be playing tonight but it will apparently be a game-time decision.
Although Denver gets all the attention for being the toughest place to visit for the second leg of a back-to-back due to it’s league high altitude and awkward location, Utah isn’t far behind. The Jazz play at the league’s second highest altitude and also gain an advantage through their timezone from teams travelling to them from the West.
Expect the Raptors to be fatigued from last night’s game: despite the dominant nature of their victory, the main players all played their regular minutes and the possible return of Leonard would only stem this to an extent.
We see plenty of teams open well against the Jazz and Nuggets on back-to-backs, but fade in the second half as fatigue from playtime and altitude begins to set in. For that reason the Raptors/Jazz double result tonight at 11/2 with Paddy Power looks a good bet. You can boost this to 13/2 if you have any price boosts available.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Raptors fly out of the gates and lead at the half, but the team as a whole begin to tire after the break and pick up their second loss of the campaign. But with Donovan Mitchell sidelined with ankle tightness and Toronto’s current 9-1 record, I can’t recommend more than half your usual stake here.
Raptors/Jazz double result @ 11/2 (boosted to 13/2) – ½pt
