Last Updated on April 17, 2010 2:00 pm by Anthony Rome
Jazz-Nuggets Picks
The Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets are set to begin a seven game series on Saturday, April 17. Let’s take a look at the series and hand out a prediction.
After finishing the regular season with identical 53-29 records, the Jazz and Nuggets will square off as the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively. Utah finished with an outstanding 32-9 home mark and also wrapped up their road schedule with a 21-20 winning record as well. Denver was equally good at home, going 34-7, but struggled on the road while finishing with a 19-22 mark.
Oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL.com have made the Nuggets –200 money line favorites to beat the Jazz in the teams’ best of seven series. Utah is +170 on the money line and represents some value after finishing with the exact same record as Denver during the regular season.
But things aren’t really working in the Jazz’s favor right now, are they? Had they beaten the Suns at home in the season finale on Wednesday night, the Jazz would have locked up the third seed in the West and had home-court advantage in their series versus the Nuggets. Instead, they now have to open in Denver for the first two games of the series after the Nuggets won their second straight Northwest Division title.
Making matters worse for Utah is that the team is extremely banged up. After aggravating his strained left calf during a workout on Thursday, forward Andrei Kirilenko will now miss the entire first round. This is on top of him missing 15 of the team’s last 17 games.
Carlos Boozer is expected to be back in the lineup at the start of the series, but he too strained a muscle on his right side and was held out of the final game. While he and Deron Williams form a great pair, the Jazz are certainly looking at an uphill battle.
Another big man, Mehmet Okur, is battling tendonitis in his left Achillies.
Given how banged up the Jazz are, the Nuggets might be a bargain at –200. Compared to the other series prices in the NBA playoffs, Denver’s line is reasonable and they should have no problem overcoming Utah’s injury issues.
Take Denver and lay the –200 in this series.
Our NBA Playoff Series Free Pick for this matchup is: DENVER NUGGETS –200.
(Note: This free pick is for the entire seven game series and is not to be confused with our daily NBA picks, which are for individual games.)
All games in this series since 1996
DENVER is 26-26 against the spread versus UTAH since 1996
UTAH is 37-18 straight up against DENVER since 1996
30 of 55 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL since 1996
Games over the last 3 seasons
DENVER is 7-3 against the spread versus UTAH over the last 3 seasons
DENVER is 6-6 straight up against UTAH over the last 3 seasons
7 of 12 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons
All games played at DENVER since 1996
DENVER is 14-12 against the spread versus UTAH since 1996
DENVER is 14-13 straight up against UTAH since 1996
17 of 27 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL since 1996
Games played at DENVER over the last 3 seasons.
DENVER is 4-1 against the spread versus UTAH over the last 3 seasons
DENVER is 5-1 straight up against UTAH over the last 3 seasons
5 of 6 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons
Denver
[F] 04/15/2010 – Kenyon Martin probable Saturday vs. Utah ( Rest )
[G] 04/16/2010 – Joey Graham missed last few games, probable Saturday vs. U
Utah
(!)[C] 04/16/2010 – Mehmet Okur probable Saturday vs. Denver ( Achilles )
(!)[F] 04/16/2010 – Carlos Boozer is upgraded to probable Saturday vs. Denv
[F] 04/16/2010 – Andrei Kirilenko expected to miss 3 weeks ( Calf )
Utah Jazz (Series Price) +170
Denver Nuggets (Series Price) –200
Jazz vs. Nuggets Series Schedule:
Game 1: Saturday, April 17 at Denver, 10:30PM ET on ESPN
Game 2: Monday, April 19 at Denver, 10:30PM ET on TNT
Game 3: Friday, April 23 at Utah, 10:30PM ET on ESPN2
Game 4: Sunday, April 25 at Utah, 9:30PM ET on TNT
Game 5: Wednesday, April 28 at Denver, TBD
Game 6: Friday, April 30 at Utah, TBD
Game 7: Sunday, May 2 at Utah, TBD
Posted: 4/17/10 2:00PM ET