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 The San Antonio Spurs have a chance to eliminate the Utah Jazz with an NBA Western Conference Finals Game-Five victory tonight at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. To avoid elimination the Jazz need to quickly figure out a way to steal a game in the Alamo City.
Expecting the Spurs to take care of business on their home court, oddsmakers at BetUS.com have installed them an -8.0 point favorite with a money line cost of -400 . The Jazz are getting +320 juice on the money line while the total is holding at 189. The last six times Utah and San Antonio squared off, the OVER covered five times , including three out of four playoff games. Over the last three seasons in games played at San Antonio, the OVER covered six out of seven times. The last five times these teams played each other, they combined to average 193.2 points per game. Considering the above trends, it isn't surprising that about 65 percent of the early money is on the OVER (189). The Spurs will have as many as three opportunities to close out the series, but they'd be wise to take advantage of the first one. That means they need to play as aggressive and hungry as they did Monday. If not, they'll risk being sent back to Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City for a game that could even the series. The Jazz are not immune to having their backs to the wall and surviving.
If the Spurs offense stalls , he Jazz can lock in and swipe at the ball. But after committing a total of 44 turnovers in Games 2 and 3, the Spurs had only 13 on Monday, including just seven in the final three quarters. Jazz post man Carlos Boozer said the Jazz will not survive unless he and point guard Deron Williams can get more help from their teammates than they have been getting in the first four games of the best-of-seven series. "We have guys that are talented enough to pick it up , and we're going to need those guys to pick it up for us to have a chance," Boozer said. "Maybe they feel the pressure, more than we do," he added. "I don't know what the case might be. But I'm going to tell you, for us to win Game 5; we need Memo to play great. We need AK to play great. We need Matt to play great. We need Paul, we need Gira, we need D-Fish. We need everybody else to get on the same page as me and Willie and we have to be on the same page defensively." Nobody is expecting the Jazz to manage a victory tonight, however. Not only did the Jazz melt down in the fourth quarter and lose Game-Four at home 91-79 amid a fusillade of ejections, technical fouls and garbage-throwing fans, but they are riding an 18-game losing streak on the road against the Spurs. What's more, they trail the series 3-1 a deficit from which only seven teams in league history have recovered, none in the Western Conference finals. The Pick: Jazz +8.0 (Spurs a good -400 ml value) Total: OVER 189
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