NBA Betting – Jazz at Nuggets

With Mehmet Okur out for the rest of the playoffs and Andrei Kirilenko out for the series, the Utah Jazz visit the Denver Nuggets scoring machine tonight at 10:30 PM ET at Pepsi Center in Game Two of the series.

The Jazz gave quite a battle during Game One for more than three quarters, but as I told you on the first game breakdown, it is hard to keep up the pace with one of the best offensive teams in the NBA, especially if their star player is on fire, just like Carmelo Anthony was on Saturday, scoring a career-playoff- high 42 points.

Jazz at Nuggets Game 2

NBA Betting Odds:

Utah Jazz +6.5
Denver Nuggets -6.5
O/U 2125

With two of the Jazz’s five starters out, plus Carlos Boozer playing with an oblique injury, it is hard to believe Utah can steal a win from Denver.

Despite that Boozer played 41 minutes and scored 19 points and Deron Williams added 26 points and 11 assists, Utah was unable to keep up the pace of the Nuggets, especially in the fourth quarter when they were outscored 38-27.

Not only did “Melo” tie the Nuggets’ franchise record for points in an NBA playoff game but also J.R. Smith scored 18 of his 20 points in the final period, catching fire with his usual three pointers, making it impossible for the Jazz to sustain the rhythm.

NBA betting fans should consider that the Nuggets are 6-2 ATS as a home favorite of 6.5 to 9 points and 25-10 ATS in the last three years. Also keep in mind they are 8-0 when leading in a playoff series in the last three seasons.

DENVER is 5-1 against the spread versus UTAH over the last 3 seasons and 6 of 7 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons.

My pick: Denver will cover and the Over.