This is the pivotal game in this series as after tonight it will either be tied 2-2 or one team will be leading 3-1. The Jazz have been very good at home this season vs. the basketball odds and they have done well recently against Denver in Salt Lake City.
NBA odds point to the Jazz in this game that can be seen on TNT. The Jazz won eight of the last ten regular season meetings against Denver in Salt Lake City. The Nuggets were able to win one this year though at Utah as they got past the Jazz 105-95 in January. The Jazz won 116-106 at home in February. Both of these teams can put up points but in the regular season at Utah, four of the last five meetings went under the total.
This was not supposed to be a competitive series after the Jazz lost Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko to injuries but the Jazz shocked everyone and won Game 2 in Denver. Kyle Korver made a big three-pointer in that game and the Jazz got the win. “It was just effort, it was heart,” Korver said. “We’re short-handed, we’re missing guys that we’d love to have in this series, but they’re not here. And so we’ve got to make the most of it.”
Not many people believed the Jazz would win more than a single game in this series but the Jazz can do more than that now. “It’s very important for us, for our confidence, and to strike a little doubt in their mind,” Utah’s Deron Williams.
Denver was not a very good road team during the regular season as they went 15-21-5 against the NBA odds. The Nuggets can score as they were third in the league in offense led by Carmelo Anthony. Stopping the other team is a major issues though as Denver ranked just 20th in the NBA. The Nuggets definitely are having trouble containing the Jazz in this series. If they are to upset Utah on Sunday they will have to play at least a little bit of defense. It won’t be easy against a Utah team that was 26-13-2 at home this regular season vs. the basketball odds.