Salt Lake City's Vivint Smart Home Arena will be rocking at 10:30 p.m. ET Friday for a nationally televised game with the expected return of star center Rudy Gobert. The Utah Jazz opened as five-point favorites against the New York Knicks and now are laying six. The over-under, or total number of points Vegas thinks will be scored, has ticked down from an opening of 204.5 to 202.5.
Before picking either side, you need to read what SportsLine's Advanced Projection Model has come up with. This model has put together a blistering 56-35 run on its top-rated point-spread picks this season, returning over $1,700 to $100 bettors.
Now, the model has examined every matchup, every player and every trend for Knicks-Jazz and locked in against-the-spread and over-under picks.
We can tell you that the computer has the under winning 54 percent of simulations. But what about the spread, which it has excelled picking?
The model knows the Knicks are 22-4 against the spread in their past 26 contests versus the Jazz.
The Knicks' best chance to cover the spread Friday -- or even win outright -- will depend on power forward Kristaps Porzingis continuing his recent strong play. Over his past five games, Porzingis has 17 blocks, 10 steals and is shooting 42 percent from 3-point range.
But the Jazz can cover the spread on the back of Gobert, who isn't expected to be on a minutes restriction. On defense, he forces opponents into taking wild attempts while swatting an average of 2.3 shots.
So what side of the Knicks-Jazz do you need to be all over? Visit SportsLine now to see the strong point-spread pick for Knicks-Jazz, all from the model that has absolutely crushed the NBA, and find out.
