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Jeremy Perry
Nuggets vs. Jazz Game 6 Prediction: NBA Odds, Point Spread
The NBA is back after a two-day boycott of games and leaving the political ramifications aside, it will be interesting to see what it means for the on-court action. The Denver Nuggets won Game 1 of this series and then proceeded to lose three straight before pulling out Game 5 to stay alive. Would they have rather played on Friday to keep momentum going? Or are the Jazz happy to have extra time off to regroup? We’ll find out more on Sunday.
NBA Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The Nuggets have done fairly well in recent meetings between the teams going 6-2 in their last eight matchups. The over is 9-1 in the Nuggets last 10 games coming in as the underdog and 19-6-1 in their last 26 games overall.
For the Jazz, the over is 5-1 in their last six games in which they were the favorite. It’s also 9-2 in their last 11 matchups overall. The Jazz are 6-0-1 ATS in their last seven on two days’ rest.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets are in a great position to force a Game 7 after their solid 10-point victory in Game 5. However, they needed a stellar first half performance from their star Nikola Jokic in which he scored 21 points without missing a shot, then finished the game with 31 points. When he cooled off in the second half, point guard Jamal Murray continued his hot scoring streak and scored 33 points in the final two frames to close the game out. He was absolutely unstoppable down the stretch. He’s now scored 42 and 50 in his last two games, and the concern is can the team win if he doesn’t play as well?
They also were able to get 15 points out of Michael Porter Jr. and are hoping to get Gary Harris back into the starting lineup ahead of Game 6 (he’s questionable). If he’s back, the Nuggets will get a big boost as their offense has mostly been Murray, Jokic and sometimes Porter Jr.
Utah Jazz
The Jazz only need one more win in order to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs but it won’t come easy. They recently were unable to close out the series in Game 5 despite all around good performances from each of their starters. They were just unable to hit big time shots in the fourth quarter and had some turnovers that they would love to have back. But there were still positives, as Donovan Mitchell was able to score 30 with Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson pitching in 17 points each. The key was the Nuggets defense slowed them down in the second half as the Jazz had 63 points in the first half and just 44 in the second.
Mitchell will continue to be the main factor for the Jazz as they look to close the series out on Sunday. He has been averaging an outstanding 37.6 points per game in this series and has had plenty of support. That support seemed to disappear down the stretch of the fourth quarter in Game 5 as they left it up to Mitchell. He’ll need more from others, so that the Nuggets defense doesn’t have it so easy.
DEN
UTA