Denver Nuggets at Utah Jazz Predictions and Odds Feb 2
Denver Nuggets at Utah Jazz Betting Preview
WagerTalk NBA handicapper Andy Lang offers his Denver Nuggets at Utah Jazz betting preview for Wednesday, February 2. At the time of posting, the Jazz have opened as a 3-point home favorite over the road Nuggets, with the total sitting at 223 points.
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| Wednesday, February 2 | NBA Betting Notes |
|---|---|
| Point Spread: | Denver Nuggets +3 vs Utah Jazz |
| Total: | 223 Points |
| Game Time: | 10:10pm ET / 7:10pm PT |
| Arena: | Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, UT |
| TV: | ESPN |
Denver Nuggets at Utah Jazz Analysis
The Denver Nuggets travel to Utah for a Western Conference battle with the Jazz on Wednesday night. Ironically, both teams are coming off a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in their most recent game.
Just last night the Nuggets lost 130-115 in Minnesota, dropping their record to 28-22 on the season. The Jazz continued their free fall with a 126-106 road loss against the Twolves on Sunday night. This will be the Nuggs last chance to exact revenge on the Jazz as this is the 4th and final meeting between these squads.
The Jazz won at home in the first week of the regular season 122-110. Just last month, the Jazz picked up road victories against Denver by the scores of 115-109 and 125-102.
Time to Hit The Panic Button in Utah
The Utah Jazz are in collapse mode, they are currently on a five game losing streak and have now lost 11 of their last 13 games. The most recent gut punch was the news that Joe Ingles is out for the season after tearing his ACL in Sunday’s loss in Minnesota.
Donovan Mitchell is still sidelined with concussion symptoms, while Rudy Gobert continues to miss time with a calf injury. It’s a shame because the Jazz were a top contender in the West at 28-10 and 13 games later they have now fallen to 30-21. No Gobert on the floor is going to be a colossal issue for Jazz with Nikola Jokic coming to town.
Going forward the Jazz are going to rely heavily on wily veterans Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson and Bojan Bogdanovic. Bogdanovic led the team in scoring with 23 points in the loss to Minnesota. Utah still ranks 2nd in scoring with 114.5 points per game, while ranking 13th in points allowed with just shy of 108 points a game.
Spicy Nuggets Coming to Utah
This just has to be a game the Nuggets are motivated to win in a triple revenge spot. The Jazz are ripe for the picking and this is the Nuggs last opportunity to get a victory after losing the first three head-to-head meetings.
The Nuggets are hot as they are the winners of five of their last six games as well as eight of their last 11. They did lose last night as they were run off the court in Minnesota. As usual, Nikola Jokic led his team with a 21 point, 16 rebound, 8 assist performance.
Jokic must be licking his chops with an opportunity to face Utah without Rudy Gobert patrolling the paint. No surprise, but it became official that Michael Porter Jr. is out for the remainder of the season after back surgery. The Nuggets are middle of the pack in scoring with 109 points per game and 11th in points allowed with 107.4
Denver Nuggets at Utah Jazz Prediction
The Utah Jazz are three point favorites despite missing several key players with a 223 total. The Nuggets come into this game with a ton of confidence outside of last night’s loss and should be plenty motivated after losing the first three head-to-head matchups.
They have been in a groove offensively, scoring 115 points or more in three of their last four games. Not having Donovan Mitchell is obviously a tremendous loss for Utah, but it feels like missing Rudy Gobert in the paint is even a bigger problem. On top of that, Hassan Whiteside is banged up and listed as day-to-day.
The Jazz frontcourt is in shambles and that’s a huge issue with “The Joker” coming to town. Assuming the Nuggets are at full strength, I honestly don’t understand why the Jazz are favored, even with the Nuggets playing the second game of a back-to-back. Due to the 15 point loss, Jokic led the team in minutes with only 30, so fatigue shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
The Nuggets are only 2-6 against the spread in back-to-backs this season, but Jokic has had some dominant performances. You have take into consideration that teams took advantage of the Nuggets missing key players of their own in some of those game’s.
However, Denver has settled in with their current roster and they are in great form. I’m going to strongly recommend the Nuggets +3 and +120 money line, half of your normal bet on each.
Official Play: Denver Nuggets +3 & +120 money line.
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Wednesday on WagerTalk TV:
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Denver Nuggets at Utah Jazz Preview from GoldSheet
Utah has won and covered four straight against Denver, including all three meetings this season with three different Jazz players scoring more than 20 ppg, the team averaging 121 ppg and shooting more than 50%.
Unfortunately, two of those contributors in the first three games, G Donovan Mitchell (concussion) and C Rudy Gobert (calf) are down with injuries right now and Backup swingman Joe Ingles is out for the season after tearing his ACL Sunday against Minnesota.
The key issue from the Denver view is the questionable availability of Nikola Jokic, who led the way against Utah this season, averaging 25 ppg, 14 rpg and 10.3 apg in the series. Jokic is iffy with a sore toe and could be rested after the Nuggets were thrashed 130-115 at the hands of Minnesota last night.
Denver has dropped 5 of 6 against the spread playing the 2nd nights of back-to-back games and are just 5-11 vs. the number last 2 years when unrested. This series has been “over” the total 9-4 last 13, and the Nuggets are 8-2 “over” last 10 and 5-1 “over” last six playing unrested. Play Denver and the Over.
NBA Stat Sheet
Each day, WagerTalk handicapper Ralph Michaels puts together his NBA Stat Sheet, which offers a head-to-head comparison for how teams are performing in a number of key areas heading into a game. Check out Wednesday’s sheet, with notes on tonight’s Denver Nuggets at Utah Jazz contest.
NBA Betting Strategy
Ride the hot and fade the cold. Which advanced stats should you be paying the most attention to? Kelly Stewart sat down with Teddy Covers and Skee Profit to discuss some of their favorite NBA betting tips.
NBA Odds Screen
WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the NBA point spreads, moneylines, first half lines and betting percentages for all of Wednesday’s NBA games, including this Denver Nuggets at Utah Jazz showdown, from your desktop or phone.
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