Against the Spread Pick
This game means everything for the Spurs and nothing for the Jazz, with the caveat that I believe it is possible that games starting ahead of them on Thursday could make a difference. The Spurs need Memphis and Phoenix to lose and their games start at 4:00 that day and will be in progress. By the second half or even earlier they may know that they are eliminated. If that happens then they could certainly just mail in the rest of the game. Normally the league tries to get games in the same time slot to avoid that but it is more difficult this season for obvious reasons. San Antonio has been playing smaller in the bubble but no style difference is going to make up for lack of motivation. Utah has nothing to gain here. The Jazz have lost three straight and did not play any starter even 20 minutes in their last game. Donovan Mitchell did not play last time out and I don’t expect that to change. There is a chance you could take the Jazz in the first half or quarter but I don’t like it. There is no way to know who is going to be on the court, so this is a tricky spot all the way around. The Jazz might have covered in a loss to San Antonio earlier in the bubble but that seems a while back now. San Antonio is 5-2 ATS since the restart. Take the Spurs.