Utah Jazz at Denver Nuggets 8/25/20: NBA Basketball free preview, analysis, prediction, odds and pick against the spread.
2020-08-25 18:30:00 EDT
The Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets meet Tuesday in game five of NBA playoff action at the HP Field House.
The Utah Jazz look for a fourth straight victory to close out the series and advance to the next playoff round. The Utah Jazz are averaging 125.5 points on 51.6 percent shooting and allowing 113.5 points on 46.2 percent shooting. Donovan Mitchell is averaging 39.5 points and 5.8 assists while Mike Conley is averaging 26.5 points and four assists. Jordan Clarkson is the third double-digit scorer and Rudy Gobert is grabbing 9.8 rebounds. The Utah Jazz are shooting 43.3 percent from beyond the arc and 80.4 percent from the free thitem line. The Utah Jazz are allowing 42.7 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 43.8 rebounds per game.
The Denver Nuggets need a win here to save their season and force a game six on Thursday. The Denver Nuggets are averaging 113.5 points on 46.2 percent shooting and allowing 125.5 points on 51.6 percent shooting. Jamal Murray is averaging 28 points and 6.5 assists while Nikola Jokic is averaging 25.3 points and 8.3 rebounds. Michael Porter Jr. is the third double-digit scorer and Jerami Grant is grabbing three rebounds. The Denver Nuggets are shooting 44.3 percent from beyond the arc and 83.1 percent from the free thitem line. The Denver Nuggets are allowing 42.7 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 41.8 rebounds per game.
The Jazz are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 Tuesday games and 4-16-2 ATS in their last 22 games as a favorite. The Nuggets are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games following a ATS win and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games playing on 1 days rest. The over is 8-2 in Jazz last 10 overall. The over is 21-7-1 in Nuggets last 29 overall. The Jazz are 2-8 ATS in the last 10 meetings in Denver and 2-5 ATS in the last 7 meetings.
There hasn’t been much defense this series, but it’s the Utah Jazz who have had more consistent success and look way too comfortable. Donovan Mitchell has been arguably the best player through the first round of the NBA playoffs, and the Jazz are shooting 51.6 percent from the field through four games. I said heading into a big game four that the Nuggets have zero chance in this series unless the defense makes drastic strides, and we just haven’t seen it. The Nuggets are a deep, talented team that can get back in this series, but I’m not betting on it based on what we’ve seen. The Jazz close it out and advance to the next round.
