|
Written by Dan
|
|
Monday, 19 April 2010 07:16 |
Utah at Denver 4/19/10
The Jazz look to bounce back against the Nuggets tonight in game two
Utah Jazz at Denver Nuggets
NBA Playoffs: 1st Round - Game 2 - Nuggets Lead Series 1-0
Monday April 19, 2010 10:30 PM EST (TNT)
The Line: Over/Under 212.5
Game 1: Carmelo Anthony scored a career playoff high 42 points and JR Smith scored 18 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Nuggets recorded a 126-113 win in their opening round match against the Jazz. Anthony, who previous playoff high was 41 against the Dallas Mavericks last season, put on shooting display in front of his home town fans as he made 18-25 from the field, proving not match for CJ Miles and Wesley Matthews who were powerless to stop him. The Jazz traded buckets with the Nuggets for the first three quarters of the game, however the fourth quarter would belong to JR Smith who came of the bench to score 18 of his 20 points as the Nuggets outscored the Jazz 38-27 in the final period. Deron Williams led the way (26 points, 11 assists ) for the short handed Jazz who suffered a major blow as Mehmet Okur went down with a injury in the first half and MRI exams revealed on Sunday that Okur will miss the rest of the season, joining Kirilenko on the sidelines and putting a major dent in the Jazz’s title hopes.
Season Series: The Nuggets won three of a possible four meetings against the Jazz in the regular season and had it not have been for injuries to Carmelo Anthony and Chauncy Billups in the final meeting, the Nuggets could very well have won every contest and swept the regular season series. The Nuggets also have the edge against the spread as they are 7-2 ATS in the last 9 meetings and 4-0-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings in Denver. The home team and favorite is also 3-1-2 ATS in the last 6 meetings. The Over is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings and 4-0 in the last 4 meetings in Denver.
Prediction: With Okur now joining Andrei Kirilenko on the sidelines, the task at hand just got a whole lot tougher for the Jazz who have struggled against the Nuggets for a while now. Having said that, when a player goes down with a major injury, the team usually rallies around and everyone picks up the slack, something the Jazz are going to have to do if they are any chance of winning this game tonight. While I think the Jazz can keep this game fairly close, I think the over presents some more value here as previous meetings have all sailed over the total while both the Nuggets and Jazz come in as two of the highest scoring teams in the league. Granted, Okur is out and the chances of Carmelo Anthony repeating game one's shooting display are slim, however the Nuggets and Jazz are two offensive juggernauts and I have no reason to believe that will change tonight...
Dan's Pick: Over 212.2
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
