Cavs @ Jazz, Mavs @ Clippers - Previews, Picks & Props for Tuesday Night

Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers will make their first and only visit to Utah this year, the place Mitchell spent his entire five-year career before being traded to the Cavs last summer. The Cavs handily beat the Jazz in their previous meeting in Cleveland by a score of 122-99 on Dec. 20. Mitchell, the eighth leading scorer (28.8 ppg) in the league, didn’t exactly blow up in that one, but did score 23 points. The Jazz are 12-7 at home, the Cavs are 8-11 on the road and Mitchell is likely to be extremely fired up for this game. 

Mitchell’s relationship with the fans in Utah isn’t a bad one, but the relationship didn’t end on ideal terms and there could be a lot of boos tonight. “I don’t know what the response will be. I hope it’s cheers,” he said. “We did a lot of great things there. Obviously, we didn’t accomplish our end goal. But I had a lot of positives despite not winning a championship.”

The Cavs rank 10th in offensive rating at 113.9 and first in defensive rating at 109.0. Meanwhile, the Jazz are third in offensive rating at 116.0 but are bad defensively, coming in at 27th with a rating of 115.1. The Cavaliers are the No. 4 seed in the East and are just a ½ game behind the No. 3 Bucks, and 3.0 games behind first-place Boston. Meanwhile, the Jazz have really cooled off since their hot start and they’ve fallen all the way down to the No. 11 seed in the West. They’re only 3.0 games behind the No. 5 Kings and 8.5 games back of the No. 1 seeded Nuggets, but they need to start playing defense if they’re going to make the playoffs. Many of us thought the Jazz would tank for Victor Wembanyama but they already have twice as many wins as the Houston Rockets, so the Wemby dream is all but dead. 

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The Cavaliers injury report is pretty clean with only Ricky Rubio, Dean Wade and Dylan Windler listed as out tonight. However, the Jazz will be without key players like Kelly Olynyk (ankle) and Collin Sexton (hamstring), while Talen Horton-Tucker and Udoka Azubuike are also out for Utah. This will be five straight misses for Sexton so look for Jordan Clarkson to step up, along with Malik Beasley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker off the bench. And with Olynyk out, Walker Kessler should move into the starting five and see a big boost tonight. 

The Cavs should start the usual suspects: Darius Garland, Mitchell, Isaac Okoro, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. The Jazz will go with Mike Conley, Clarkson, Lauri Markkanen, Jarred Vanderbilt and Kessler. Markkanen is sizzling right now, averaging 31 points over his last 10 games, while Kessler is coming off a 10-point, 11-rebound, 6-block bonanza in Sunday’s loss to the Grizzlies. Let’s not forget that Markkanen is also going against his former team tonight. 

Oddscrowd top performer wasakaa likes the over of 226.5 in this one, which makes sense given that they’re both Top 10 NBA offenses. The Cavs are also kind of hot, going 6-4 over their last 10, while the Jazz are 3-7 in their last 10. And given Utah’s lack of defensive presence and Mitchell’s will to beat his old team in front of their home crowd, and we’re all in on the Cavaliers tonight. 

Pick: Cavs -2.5

Prop 1: Donovan Mitchell over 29.5 points -106 at FanDuel

Prop 2: Lauri Markkanen over 25.5 points -125 at FanDuel

Prop 3: Darius Garland over 27.5 combined points and assists -115 at FanDuel

This game also has an angle to it as there is no love lost between these two teams. In fact, they can’t stand each other. The rivalry was a little more intense when the Clippers still had Patrick Beverley but as long as Marus Morris and Luka Doncic are both on the court, things should be intense and chippy. But these are two teams seemingly heading in opposite directions, as the Mavs are 8-2 over their last 10 games, but have lost two of their last three after going on an eight-game winning streak. However, one of those losses was to Boston and the other happened on Sunday against the Thunder while Luka was resting. The Clippers are 3-7 over their last 10 and have dropped six straight games. Nothing should wake them up more than a visit from Luka and company tonight. 

Luka will come in well rested, last playing on Saturday night when he burned the Pelicans for 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and three 3-pointers. Dallas won Game 1 of this series this season 103-101 at home back on Nov. 15. Dallas took at 2-0 lead in their first-round series of the 2021 playoffs but the Clippers came back to win Game 7 and take the series 4-3. Christian Wood is on fire for Dallas and has become Luka’s right-hand man, averaging 22 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 3-pointers in January after averaging 19 points and eight rebounds in December. And Luka is leading the league in scoring at 34 points per game, averaging 32 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists in his three January games. Luka had a December to remember when he racked up 35.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 9.3 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.7 blocks and 3.7 3-pointers on 52 percent shooting. Luka (ankle) is probable tonight, while Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Green and Maxi Kleber remain out with their injuries. Tim Hardaway Jr. is averaging 16.5 points and 3.8 3-pointers in four January games. 

The Clippers will be without Paul George (hamstring) and Luke Kennard (calf) tonight, which will obviously hurt them. This will be the third straight miss for George and his absence is part of the reason the Clippers are reeling. Nicolas Batum and Terance Mann get a boost with the two Clippers injuries and they will likely start Mann, Batum, Kawhi Leonard, Morris and Ivica Zubac. Dallas should have a starting lineup of Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie, Hardaway, Wood and Dwight Powell. 

Wasakaa got the Mavs +1.5 early, while top Oddscrowd bettor DAMF has Dallas at -1.5. With Paul George out, the Mavs hot and the Clippers cold, we also like a rested Luka and the Mavs to get a win at L.A. tonight, despite being just 7-12 on the road this season. For the record, the Clippers are 11-9 at home.

Pick: Mavericks -1.5

Prop 1: Luka Doncic over 50.5 combined points, rebounds and assists -113 at FanDuel

Prop 2: Luka Doncic over 30 points -230 at FanDuel

Prop 3: Christian Wood over 29.5 combined points and rebounds -104 at FanDuel