Hot Streaks:
Last updated Aug 23, 10:57 PM EDT
Member Notes
Today’s Free Picks
| Sport | Game Selection | Game Time |
|---|---|---|
| NBA | (521) Utah Jazz at (522) Memphis Grizzlies | 7:10pm EST - Feb 20/2026 |
The PLAY: Utah Jazz 114
There will be a lot of players missing for both teams in this game, being that this is the NBA. Lauri Markkanen will be one player who is expected to play. That's huge for Utah.
Neither Utah nor Memphis are any good. But the Jazz have been in better defensive form and having Markkanen makes a huge difference. He is Utah's best player and the 10th-highest scorer in the NBA averaging 26.7 ppg. Markkanen has missed games due to illness. The Jazz are 6-0 ATS the past six times he's been in the lineup.
Memphis opened the favorite. The Grizzlies are 0-4 ATS, 1-3 SU the past four times they've been chalk. Early money has come on Utah.
The Jazz entered the All-Star break winning two of its last three games. Surprisingly, the Jazz have the seventh-best defensive rating during the past two weeks.
The Grizzlies are 2-8 in their last 10 games and have lost four in a row. Memphis is surrendering an average of 125.2 points per game during its last seven games. That would rank second to last if computed for the entire season.
While Utah will be minus Jaren Jackson Jr., Jusuf Nurkic and Keyonte George, Memphis will be without Ja Morant, Santi Aldama, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Brandon Clarke, Cedric Coward, Zach Edey, Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippen Jr.
(Editor's note: Stephen Nover is 9-3 on his premium NBA plays this month and has a Friday Big Ticket NBA play today in addition to this free selection.)
Consultant Bio
Stephen Nover is unique among professional handicappers. A multiple award-winning sportswriter for numerous newspapers, including the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nover has one the best combinations of gambling and media sources in the world.
The author of two sports gambling books, "Las Vegas Sports Beat" and "Sports Gaming Beat", along with a book on fantasy football titled, "Winning Fantasy Football", Nover is a former professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas having taught a football handicapping class there. He also was the co-host of the Sunday night sports betting radio show "The Stardust Line" during the 1990's.
Parlaying nearly 50 years worth of professional gambling experience with tremendous knowledge of the players through elite deep-roster Rotisserie leagues and building on copious gaming and media sources - having worked for newspapers in the Midwest, South and West and also for legendary Hall of Fame oddsmaker Roxy Roxborough - Nover is a true Las Vegas wise guy. He helped learn his craft from such masters as Roxborough, Dave Malinsky, Lem Banker and Russ Culver.
Part of what makes Nover so special is the pride he takes in writing his deep-dive analysis, which always is unique, well-researched and sometimes entails out-of-the-box thinking.