Basketball odds favor the Utah Jazz on Friday as they host the Denver Nuggets in Game 6 of their Western Conference playoff series. The Jazz were given very little chance in NBA odds to win this series but they have been competitive even though they have not had two of their injured starters in the lineup.
Basketball odds point to the Jazz in this game since they are at home. Utah has been a very good team at home in recent seasons and they have also had success against the Nuggets in Salt Lake City. Before this series began the Jazz had won eight of the last ten games against Denver in Salt Lake. Winning in Utah is never easy but Denver has a better chance simply because in this series they get rest. There has been a two-day break twice already in this series.
The Nuggets and Jazz are two of the highest scoring teams in the NBA but that doesn’t mean every game they play goes over the total. In fact, before this series started, four of the last five meetings between the two teams in Utah went under. The first two games of this series in Denver went way over the total though and that has made the oddsmakers adjust their number throughout this series.
Denver was the third highest scoring team in the NBA this season but during the regular season they went over the total more often at home than they did on the road. In fact, during the regular season, the Nuggets went under in 25 of their 41 road games. That is a huge surprise considering the Denver offense and their lack of defense.
Utah also has a very good offense. They were fourth in the league in scoring. They were a better defensive team than Denver though. The Jazz were a team that went over the total in NBA odds a little bit more than they went under this season.
After the Jazz lost Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko, many people didn’t give the Jazz a chance in this series vs. the basketball odds. Utah is still a very talented team though and their two best players are still healthy and they can make an impact. Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams can lead Utah to wins on a regular basis.
Denver has a nice one-two combination of their own in Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups. It could be that whichever combination plays better ends up winning this series.