Most Favorable – Denver Nuggets
There are going to be some people who disagree with me on this one. And to that I say bring it on.
The Denver Nuggets have had a phenomenal season and are no doubt an incredible team this year. They have an All-Star big in Nikola Jokic, a riveting backcourt, depth galore and a daunting home court advantage in the Mile High City. All that said, I’d still prefer to go up against them than any of the other teams slotted ahead of the Jazz in the standings.
Not only are the Jazz 2-1 against the Nuggets so far this regular season, but overall I believe this is a great matchup for Utah. Jokic isn’t known for his defense, and Utah’s muck-it-up style would go a long way in making life difficult for the Denver offense.
Perhaps most notable is Denver’s mere lack of experience in the playoffs. They’ve been a great regular season team, but when push comes to shove and the heat of postseason is on, I could easily see this overall young and untested Nuggets team faltering. The Jazz have two straight postseason series wins under their belts and their superior coaching in the bout between Quin Snyder and Mike Malone would likely shine through as well.
As I’ve said repeatedly, this would be far from an easy matchup. In fact, I could see Utah dropping any one of these series, especially if they continue to play as they did last week. However, in terms of which matchup would instill me with the most confidence, I’d definitely go with Denver due to their inexperience and the nice matchup they present, despite the fact that they currently find themselves in the two-seed.
How would they get here:
The way things look presently, Denver seems to have a pretty good hold on the second seed, meaning the Jazz would have to drop to seventh to make this happen. However, with Houston on a roll of late, it’s not unfeasible to see Denver fall to third. Then if the Jazz stand pat at sixth, this would be the matchup.
Honestly, I could see that being essentially the most realistic best case scenario. A 3-6 matchup with Utah taking on the Nuggets would not only give them a favorable first round, but would also help them avoid the likely first-seeded Golden State Warriors for an additional series. Perhaps Jazz fans would do well to cheer for each of the teams ahead of them while hoping for Denver to slide one spot to set up what could be their best chance at advancing to the second round.