2010 NBA Playoffs: Utah Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets Prediction: April 17th 2010

Utah Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets
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Northwest Division rivals duke it out on Sunday night to wrap up a four-pack of NBA playoff betting battles when the #5 Utah Jazz (53-29, 49-30-3 ATS) face the #4 Denver Nuggets (53-29, 35-41-6 ATS). The division title race came down to the very last day of the season for both teams, as Utah’s loss to Phoenix on Wednesday dropped the Jazz to the #5 seed as opposed to the #3 seed. The loss not only gave the Nuggets the division title, but also assured that they will have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The biggest question for the Jazz is if and when they are going to get healthy. If F Carlos Boozer and/or F Andrei Kirilenko can’t give it a go, they’re going to be in a ton of trouble. Both missed the regular season finale at home against Phoenix, a game that was lost by 14 points. G Deron Williams is going to have a ton of pressure on his back one way or the other. He averaged 18.7 points and 10.5 assists per game this season to once again reaffirm the fact that he is one of the best point guards in the NBA.

Denver squandered a relatively large lead in the Northwest Division this year thanks to the fact that it has just lost its roots as an offensive team. If you go back over the last month of the season, the Nuggets only averaged a shade under 100 points per game after flying up and down the court for 106.5 points per game for the duration of the season. Don’t blame F Carmelo Anthony and G Chauncey Billups. They scored 28.2 and 19.5 points per game respectively this year.

The reason that Denver won the division championship was because of how well that it played against this Utah team all season long. The Nuggets went 3-1 SU and 2-0-2 ATS in four duels, with the only blunder coming in the form of a 116-106 NBA betting loss at Energy Solutions Arena, a game in which neither Anthony nor Billups played in. Denver won 119-112 and 114-105 at home, and 105-95 on the road this year against the Jazz.

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