The Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets meet Friday in game three of NBA playoff action at the AdventHealth Arena.
The Utah Jazz look for back-to-back victories to take a 2-1 series lead. The Utah Jazz are averaging 124.5 points on 49.5 percent shooting and allowing 120 points on 48.9 percent shooting. Donovan Mitchell is averaging 43.5 points and 7.5 assists while Jordan Clarkson is averaging 22 points and four rebounds. Joe Ingles is the third double-digit scorer and Rudy Gobert is grabbing seven rebounds. The Utah Jazz are shooting 39.6 percent from beyond the arc and 77.5 percent from the free thitem line. The Utah Jazz are allowing 51.5 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 44 rebounds per game.
The Denver Nuggets hope for a bounce back performance to take a 2-1 series lead. The Denver Nuggets are averaging 120 points on 48.9 percent shooting and allowing 124.5 points on 49.5 percent shooting. Nikola Jokic is averaging 28.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while Jamal Murray is averaging 25 points and 6.5 assists. Michael Porter Jr. is the third double-digit scorer and Jerami Grant is grabbing 1.5 rebounds. The Denver Nuggets are shooting 51.5 percent from beyond the arc and 80.5 percent from the free thitem line. The Denver Nuggets are allowing 39.6 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 41 rebounds per game.
The Nuggets are 4-12 ATS in their last 16 Conference Quarterfinals games and 2-8 ATS in their last 10 Friday games. The Jazz are 10-3 ATS in their last 13 games as an underdog, 3-7-1 ATS in their last 11 games playing on 1 days rest and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 Conference Quarterfinals games. The over is 20-6-1 in Nuggets last 27 overall. The over is 7-1 in Jazz last 8 overall. The under is 19-7 in the last 26 meetings.
The Utah Jazz have gotten anything and everything they’ve wanted offensively in this series and you can argue they would be up 2-0 if they didn’t turn into a turnover machine late in game one. The Denver Nuggets haven’t been able to get stops, and Donovan Mitchell has been the best player on the court by far through two games. Speaking of Mitchell, the Jazz are likely going to get the return of Mike Conley for this contest, which not only adds another scoring option, but it will take some of the pressure off Mitchell to do everything. The Denver Nuggets are the deeper team, but it’s the Jazz that’s playing the better basketball and gets a boost with the return of its point guard.
Give me the free bucket.