Utah Jazz Week 26 Outlook: Will final two games of season hold any bearing?
4/9 Utah vs. Denver
7:00 pm MT – AT&T SportsNet/League Pass
Opponent record: 53-27
Season series: Jazz lead 2-1
Under normal circumstances, I would love Utah’s odds in this contest. The Jazz happen to match up extremely well against Denver and especially on the Jazz’s home court, I’d pick them to have the edge. Especially considering that the Nuggets are just a mediocre 20-20 away from their home court, there’s a lot to like about Utah’s odds in this contest.
And as much as I’d like to see Utah put the hurt on an elite team right before the start of the postseason, the reality is that they may not be all that motivated, especially if they see Houston on the verge of a victory over OKC, whereas the Nuggets need a win to avoid the risk of sliding out of the second seed.
On the flip side, the Jazz may want vengeance on a Nuggets team that appeared to purposely lose their most recent bout against the Blazers, a fact that increased the odds of Utah and Houston facing off in the first round. Furthermore, there’s been rumors that Denver may rest some players once again. Though that wouldn’t make much sense if they want to keep the two-seed, perhaps they truly are concerned about players being fresh and rested for the postseason.
In analyzing and trying to balance all this, as I said, it’s really anyone’s guess who wins this game. However, I’m going to go ahead and give Denver the edge as they definitely have more to play for than the Jazz. If Utah loses to Denver and still needs a win to avoid Houston, they can seek to get it in the next game. If Houston wins on Tuesday, then this game will have no bearing on the Jazz, nor will the next one.
As such, expect this game to be little more than an ugly late regular season game in which I expect Denver to emerge on top.
My Prediction: Nuggets Win
Final Score: Denver 108, Utah 104