LA Lakers vs. Utah Jazz Free Pick, Betting Odds - August 3

The LA Lakers vs. Utah Jazz game Sunday starts at 9 pm ET and features a line of Lakers -6.5 and a money line of -248 (Utah +230).  Bookmaker.eu offers a generous welcome bonus (maximum $1000 bonus).

TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN

Action and Line Movement

The golden rule for handicapping any game featuring the LA Lakers is to assume the betting public will be all over them and that oddsmakers will shade the line as a result.  The exception may be when the Lakers meet another marquee team.  No offense to the Jazz but they are not quite at marquee status yet.

Not surpringly there was better than 80% of action on the Lakers spread.  Despite this, the movement wasn't especially aggressive early on.  Pinnacle, for example, moved the number from -6 to -6.5.  5Dimes did so and had only made four price alterations (-102 to -110).  We do get a glimmer into BetOnline's mindset regarding this game.  They opened the Lakers at -5.5 before quickly following the -6 to -6.5 trend.  North America's largest recreational shop, Bovada, is following the same -6 to -6.5 trend. 

For us the most interesting aspect of the line movement is the opinion of oddsmakers.  We see this at Pinnacle.  They had moved to -6.5 and back down to -6 shortly before 1 pm ET in an attempt to get even more action than what's already flowing in on the Lakers.

Hot Trends

• The home team has won eight of the last ten in this series, though this game of course will be played in Orlando.  The key takeaway here is that Utah has held their own against the Lakers.  LA's wins have been mostly dominant, we should add.
• Lakers are 5-11 ATS in their last 16 games following a straight up loss of more than 10 points.

What Sagarin Says

There is an overlay of 4.5.

Preview

Sure the Lakers destroyed the Jazz in Utah back in December, but that looks like an outlier.  As noted above, Utah has been able to compete against the Lakers in recent years.  We see the Jazz covering the spread. 

TODAY'S FREE PICK: Utah Jazz +6.5

TODAY'S RECORD: 0-1

OVERALL NBA RECORD 2020: 63-41-1 60.5%

OVERALL MLB RECORD 2020: 0-0

OVERALL MLS RECORD 2020: 1-0 100%

- Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com