Tip-off: Monday, 9:00 p.m. ET
Line: Golden State -8.5, Total: 206.5

Golden State looks for a second straight series sweep when they take on the Jazz Monday night.

You may have heard about the guy who laid a $50,000 bet on the Warriors to beat the Jazz at -10,000 odds to beat the Jazz in the Western Conference Semifinals series between the team, and how he was subsequently mocked for his stupidity on the internet. While it can certainly still be regarded as a foolish decision in retrospect, that man stands in a strong position to win $500 as the Warriors lead the Jazz 3-0 in the series heading into Monday night’s Game 4. In losing the first three games of the series by 12 points, 11 points and 11 points, respectively, the Jazz have managed to avoid being blown out but have also not posed a significant challenge to this dominant Warriors team. They were only 6.5-point underdogs for Game 3, their first home game of the series, and trailed by only two points with just under four minutes remaining on the clock. Less than 90 seconds of game time later, though, the Warriors had built up an 11-point lead and cruised to victory from there. Since 1996, favorites with a winning percentage of at least .750 and leading a playoff series are 38-73 ATS when playing a team with a winning record. In the same timeframe, games involving a home team that is revenging a loss of 10 points or more against an opponent coming off a road win of 10 points or more are 99-49 Under against totals between 200 and 209.5. Jazz PG George Hill has missed Games 2 and 3 of this series with a toe injury, and he is questionable to play Monday night. Also injured for Utah is SG Rodney Hood, who is probable, and SG Alec Burks, who is doubtful.

Thanks to a nagging calf injury that kept him out of two games in Round 1, Golden State SF Kevin Durant (24.4 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.0 BPG; all player stats are playoffs) was playing only his fifth game of the 2017 playoffs in Game 3 against Utah on Saturday. It was easily his best, as he led the Warriors to victory with 38 points on 15-of-26 shooting and 13 rebounds. He played 39 minutes, meaning he posted personal highs for this postseason in points, shot attempts, rebounds and minutes played. He had a busy final few minutes, scoring seven points after the Jazz had cut the lead to two with 3:56 remaining and also committing a flagrant foul on defense. (Admittedly, it was pretty soft, as far as flagrants go.) PG Stephen Curry (26.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 5.9 APG, 1.6 SPG) didn’t have his best shooting game, going 6-of-20 from the floor and 3-of-11 from three. He did, however, shoot 8-of-9 from the free throw line and finish with 23 points, five rebounds and four assists. He has scored either 22 or 23 points in all three games in this series. SG Klay Thompson (15.4 PPG, 1.0 SPG) has been quite quiet this postseason, and his six points on 1-of-9 shooting in Game 3 was easily his worst performance in the playoffs so far. PF Draymond Green (14.6 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 6.7 APG, 2.0 SPG, 3.0 BPG) continues to be a floor general all over the court especially on defense.

Hill (15.6 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.6 APG) was Utah’s second-leading scorer in the regular season and has also been so in the playoffs, so losing him for the majority of this series thus far has just further stacked the odds against the Jazz as they look to take down a superior Warriors team. In his place, Utah has started PG Shelvin Mack (4.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.0 APG). He is averaging 12.5 PPG in his two starts, but has only shot a combined 7-of-22 on field goal attempts (31.8%). He played 37 minutes in Game 3 while backup PGs Dante Exum (2.8 PPG) and Raul Neto (2.4 PPG) only played a total of five. Mack had a team-best plus-minus of +6 in that one. Hill’s absence has put even more scoring pressure on SF Gordon Hayward (24.0 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 3.4 APG), and, after scoring only 12 points in Game 1, he had 33 in G2 and 29 in G3. He made 13 of 14 free throw attempts in Game 3, which seems to be an effective way of both scoring and limiting transition opportunities for the Warriors. Utah’s other young star, C Rudy Gobert (11.5 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.1 SPG, 1.4 BPG) hasn’t exactly dominated against size-challenged Golden State, but he has been more than adequate. Game 3 was his best of the series, as he put up 21 points and 15 rebounds. His 7-of-15 night at the charity stripe, however, left much to be desired.