The Utah Jazz stretched their series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder to 3-1 after taking down Russell Westbrook and company in Game 4 on Monday, 113-96. The Thunder will host Game 5 this Wednesday, as they try to prevent getting eliminated from title contention in front of their home crowd. OKC is currently favored by a narrow 3.5-points.
Donovan Mitchell maybe a rookie but he is playing with the poise of a grizzled veteran in these playoffs. Mitchell made 33 points in Game 4, shooting 13-for-28 from the field, while also adding seven rebounds and four assists in 39 minutes on the floor. Mitchell so far in this series is averaging 27.5 points while Ricky Rubio is right behind him with 18.5. Utah had 12 3-pointers on Monday while OKC only connected on five long bombs. The Jazz are feeding are also capitalizing on the frustrated play of OKC players, who have been showing a lack of poise in moments in this series.
Utah is 2-2 ATS in its last four games in OKC and 4-2 ATS in its last six road games overall.
What is happening to the Thunder? Oklahoma City remains an extremely talented team, but the Thunder are susceptible to losing their composure during games. The Thunder are now desperate, and they might need some dramatic changes to right their ship like moving Carmelo Anthony to the bench. Anthony has been playing as though he is past his past-prime. In Game 4, he went 5-for-18 from the field and was 0-for-6 from behind the arc. Paul George led the Thunder with 32 points, while Russell Westbrook had 23 markers. As great as Utah’s defense has been in the playoffs, the Thunder still needs to challenge Rudy Gobert and company more inside instead of settling for 3-point shots. The Thunder went 5-for-26 from deep on Monday and were 25-for-30 from the foul line.
The Thunder are 17-25-1 ATS at Chesapeake Energy Arena over their last 43 games, so it’s not quite home-sweet-home at this juncture. Will the home crowd give them the boost they need to extend the series?
