Utah Jazz at Denver Nuggets Betting Odds


Opening Betting Lines: Jazz +5 / Nuggets -5 / O/U 208

Time: 10:30 PM EST Saturday April 17, 2010 on ESPN

Tonight in a 1st round Western Conference match up the 4th seed Denver Nuggets host the 5th seed Utah Jazz. The Nuggets won 3 of 4 games against the Jazz this season and will be tough to beat since they are one of the toughest teams in the league to beat at home.

The Jazz are only 1 game above .500 on the road this season.

Both teams lost their last game of the season and were 6-4 in their last 10 games.

In the last games of the season the Nuggets lost to the Phoenix Suns 123-101 and the Jazz also lost to the Phoenix Suns 100-86.

Utah will go into this game short handed, as SF Andrei Kirilenko strained his calf and will miss the series. That may be a big blow, as he is a defensive stopper and would have guarded high scoring Carmelo Anthony. Not only that, but Mehmet Okur has an injured Achilles, but will play in this game. For Denver Kenyon Martin is not 100% with a knee injury, but he will also play and the Nuggets really need his rebounding tonight.

This season the Nuggets are 34-7 at home and 34-43-5 ATS and the Jazz are 21-20 on the road and 49-30-3.

Deron Williams will have to try to slow the pace of the game against a Nuggets team that ranks 3rd in the league in scoring. If he can make this more of a half court game the Jazz have a great chance to win this game.

Kenyon Martin has a tall task in this game, as he has to provide Denver with some inside offense and he has to keep Jazz PF Carlos Boozer from having a big scoring game and especially keep him off the glass.

Williams and the Jazz will have to knock down their open J's tonight so the Nuggets do not drop done in the lane to contain Boozer.

Carmelo Anthony finished the season as the league's 3rd highest scorer (28.2 ppg) and the Jazz will have a tough time guarding him, especially without AK-47 in the lineup.

If Chauncey Billups and Melo are shooting well and each has a solid game on offense the Nuggets will be sitting pretty.

Betting Trends

Utah is 17-8-1 ATS in their last 26 road games, 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games as a road underdog, and has an Under record of 4-1 in their last 5 road games.

Denver is 4-11-1 ATS in their last 16 games, 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games as a favorite, and has an Under record of 6-2 in their last 8 games as a home favorite.

Utah is 0-6-2 ATS in the last 8 games against the Nuggets and 0-3-1 in their last 4 games in Denver.

In the last 7 games between these 2 teams in Denver the total has gone Over 6 times.

Our Selection : Yes four of the last five games in this matchup have gone over the listed total, but the Jazz might be without C. Boozer in this game. Utah only put up 86 without him in their last game. Take Under 208 points at at 5Dimes.


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