The Los Angeles Lakers look to string together back-to-back wins for the first time in December when they visit the Utah Jazz tonight.<\/p>\n
It won\u2019t be easy, though, as Utah is playing its best stretch of basketball of the season. Yet, despite the Jazz\u2019s uptick in play, the Lakers are still 7-point road favorites in the NBA odds.<\/p>\n
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My Lakers vs Jazz predictions and NBA picks<\/a> have a few key injuries holding these normally high-scoring teams Under the total at the Delta Center on Thursday night.<\/p>\n Lakers vs Jazz prediction<\/p>\n Lakers vs Jazz best bet: Under 243.5 (-110)<\/p>\n After a sizzling 15-4 start to the year, the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> have gone 3-3 over their last six, alternating wins and losses.<\/p>\n Last time out, they dispatched the Phoenix Suns 116-114 to kick off their 4-game road trip.<\/p>\n While it was no defensive masterpiece, it was just the second time in their last six that LA held an opponent to Under 120 points.<\/p>\n The Lakers will be looking for their third straight win in this year\u2019s season series with the Utah Jazz<\/a>, after taking both ends of a home-and-home set in November.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n But Utah is clicking right now.\u00a0Already a Top-10 team in scoring this season, the Jazz are a Top-4 unit in the last six, averaging a healthy 123.2 points per game on 47.6% shooting from the field and a crisp 38.5% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n However, even though the Jazz are cooking, and the Over has cashed in six of the last eight, notable injuries have the Under looking mighty tempting.<\/p>\n Utah\u2019s Lauri Markkanen (groin) is a game-time decision, while reserve Georges Niang is out with a foot injury.<\/p>\n For LA, Austin Reeves continues to rehab his calf strain and will miss this game, as will big man DeAndre Ayton (elbow), while Gabe Vincent (back) is considered questionable.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n That\u2019s just enough sidelined firepower on both teams to make that total a little too high for my liking.<\/p>\n MORE NBA FREE PICKS<\/a><\/p>\n Lakers vs Jazz same-game parlay<\/p>\n We\u2019re taking a flier on LeBron James<\/a>, as he\u2019s coming off a 26-point effort in a win over Phoenix. He\u2019s now averaging 24.7 points per game over the last three, topping his 22.5 scoring line twice.<\/p>\n With Austin Reeves still injured, James needs to step into that second go-to guy behind Luka Doncic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keyonte George<\/a> is coming off back-to-back 30-bombs in wins over the Mavericks and Grizzlies. He\u2019s now averaging 26.5 points and 6.5 assists per game in December, while shooting 48% from the floor and 43.6% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Lakers vs Jazz SGP<\/p>\n LeBron James Over 21.5 points<\/p>\n Keyonte George Over 25.5 points<\/p>\n Our “from downtown” SGP: Filling in the blanks<\/p>\n Doncic has yet to drop five moneyballs in a game in December, as he\u2019s gone Under his 4.5 threes line in 10 out of the last 12 games.<\/p>\n With Deandre Ayton out, rebounds need to be accounted for. Forward Rui Hachimura<\/a> has been working the glass of late, pulling down at least five rebounds in three of the last four games.<\/p>\n Lakers vs Jazz SGP<\/p>\n LeBron James Over 21.5 points<\/p>\n Keyonte George Over 25.5 points<\/p>\n Luka Doncic Under 4.5 threes<\/p>\n Rui Hachimura Over 4.5 rebounds<\/p>\n Lakers vs Jazz odds<\/p>\n Spread: Lakers -300 | Jazz +240<\/p>\n Moneyline: Lakers -7.5 (-110) | Jazz +7.5 (-110)<\/p>\n Over\/Under: Over 243.5 (-110) | Under 243.5 (-110)<\/p>\n Lakers vs Jazz betting trend to know<\/p>\n LA has won 10 of the 13 games they\u2019ve been moneyline favorite this season. Find more\u00a0NBA betting trends<\/a> for Lakers vs. Jazz.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n How to watch Lakers vs Jazz<\/p>\n Location<\/p>\n Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT<\/p>\n Date<\/p>\n Thursday, December18, 2025<\/p>\n Tip-off<\/p>\n 9:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n TV<\/p>\n Spectrum SportsNet, KJZZ<\/p>\n Lakers vs Jazz latest injuries<\/p>\n Not intended for use in MA. This article originally appeared on Covers.com<\/a>, read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers look to string together back-to-back wins for the first time in December when they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[20003,7,1586,370,499,294,955,976,185,150,368,6,472,1012,5592,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-480871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-austin-reeves","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-deandre-ayton","11":"tag-gabe-vincent","12":"tag-georges-niang","13":"tag-grizzlies","14":"tag-keyonte-george","15":"tag-lauri-markkanen","16":"tag-lebron-james","17":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","18":"tag-luka-doncic","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-phoenix-suns","21":"tag-rui-hachimura","22":"tag-the-jazz","23":"tag-utah-jazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115741152136813437","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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