Preview and pick for Game 5 of the Jazz/Clippers series

When NBA teams compete in a playoff series, there can be a lot of twists and turns. It's a grind, and even though there aren't nay back-to-back situations, there are casualties that can't be avoided. Sometimes you don't know from the morning to the afternoon.

We were thinking that maybe the Utah Jazz might have point guard Mike Conley in the starting lineup for Wednesday's Game 5. Well, he continues to be out with his hamstring, while suddenly Kawhi Leonard will be missing for the Los Angeles Clippers. So we have to look at things differently.

They will get things underway at 10:05 PM ET. And remember that at BetOnline, you have the inside track to hundreds of props that you can take a look at on the game. And then, after the game starts, you can click the link that says "Live Betting" at the top of the sportsbook interface and engage in real-time wagers.

Here are the NBA playoff odds on this game, courtesy of Betonline.ag:

Utah Jazz -7.5
Los Angeles Clippers +7.5

Over 220.5 points -110
Under 220.5 points -110

Conley hasn't played in this series; he thought he might be able to take the floor on Wednesday, but according to him, he had a "setback" in his rehabilitation. As for Leonard, he injured himself on a drive and then played through it a little in the latter stages of Monday's game.

But there was a lot of worry on the part of the Clippers' brass after the game. Leonard himself told his teammates that he wouldn't be able to play. The fact is, he may have an ACL tear. At press time, so to speak, it was to early to tell.

Leonard has been averaging 27.3 points in the series on 51% shooting. Obviously he leaves a scoring vacuum.

This is the way you might want to look at it: the Clippers have been shooting 48% as a team with an Offensive Rating of 126.2, which is lofty, to say the least. And they have several players who have met with success at long range.

On the Utah side, Donovan Mitchell has been shouldering the load, to the tune of 37.3 points per game. In the absence of Conley, he's been sharing the point guard duties, for all intents and purposes, with Joe Ingles, who is mostly a swingman who shoots three-pointers.

Mitchell's "Usage" rate, which was 36.9% in the regular season, has increased to 43.4% in this series, and that is a whopping figure. So he is going to take a high percentage of Utah's shots (around a third). He's going to get his numbers, although we believe the over-under on his points at BetOnline (33.5) is a little high.

But the Clippers have at least come up with a plan for defending him, and coach Ty Lue was happy with the triumvirate of Paul George, Terance Mann and renowned stopper Patrick Beverley (20 minutes of action in Game 4) and the harassment they have applied. Kawhi Leonard wasn't necessarily a big part of that scheme.

>The Jazz were a three-point favorite earlier, and with the announcement about Leonard we saw a jump to this number. It wouldn't be out of line at all for us to grab the points here, as the Clips can do enough "Three and D" to stay very much in it.

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