Utah Jazz v Denver Nuggets Betting Tips [23 August 2020]

After winning Game 1 in overtime in the first round of the play-offs, Denver Nuggets now find themselves 2-1 down in the series to Utah Jazz in this Western Conference showdown. Denver who finished as the third seed in the west will be hoping to even the series after winning the opener against 5th seed Utah but they will have to put a disappointing 37-point defeat behind them if they are to recover. 

Denver were beaten are perhaps more accurately, brutalized on Friday as they lost 124-87 to Utah after a 19-point loss earlier in the week. Denver are in a rut of form coming into this game having lost five of their last six matches in the bubble. Despite scoring strongly the Nuggets laboured to three successive defeats to end the regular season and since a victory in the series-opener they have averaged just 96 points per game with the talismanic Nikola Jokic leading the way in terms of scoring. Their defence has been their downfall since the season resumed letting up 123.2 points per game and since the play-offs began, they have conceded 124.3 points per game on average.  

As for Utah they lost to Denver during the regular season back on the 8th of August and after losing the first game it looked like the 5th seed would fall to Denver in the first-round. However, they have bounced back and their ability to limit Nuggets offence has been the catalyst to their success. They had the 9th best defensive record in the league during the regular season letting up 108.8 points per game and despite their defence being blown away in the series opener as they conceded 135 points, they bounced back to concede just 96 points on average across the last two games.  

This is perhaps a make or break game for Denver with a defeat leaving them one game off elimination. I expect a response from the Nuggets but I'm not entirely sure they can overturn a 37-point deficit from their last game. I do expect a tighter game but as I'm not totally confident in the end result I'm going to tip over 215.5 points to be scored as the Nuggets rack up a bigger tally but let up at least 115 as they have conceded 124 in both of the last two games.