Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
The Denver Nuggets will hit the road to face the Utah Jazz in a game 3 of their NBA pro basketball playoff series on Friday night. Tip time from Utah in this Western conference playoff game is set for 10:35PM Eastern Time and you can watch it on ESPN2.
The NBA LVSC odds makers have set the point spread in this contest and it was the Utah Jazz opening as 3 point favorites with the over under coming in at 214 ½.
The early money from the bettors has come in on the side of the road underdog, as the Utah Jazz is currently a 2-point favorite. The total has seen early movement on the side of the over, as the game is lined at 217 ½ for the bettors to play into.
Those liking the side of the Utah Jazz on the money line will have to lay –140 odds with the road underdog Denver Nuggets returning +120 to pull off the upset victory in game 3 without the benefit of points on their side.
The Utah Jazz limped into game 2 playing without Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko and came away with the 114-111 victory at Denver. The Jazz continued their hot shooting in this series hitting on 52.9% of their shots after making 54.7% in game 1. Denver went cold from three in game 2 making just 4 of 18 from beyond the arc.
The Jazz got a huge game from point guard Deron Williams who contributed with 33 points on 7 of 14 shooting from the field and 14 big assists. Williams was aggressive in game 2 and it paid off with 18 trips to the free throw line and he converted on 16. Paul Millsap saw his minutes increase with the injury to Okur and the forward contributed with 18 points and 5 rebounds in 34 minutes. Center Kyrylo Fesenko saw 20 minutes of action with Okur out and pretty much took up space on the court with just 4 points and 2 rebounds in 20 minutes. Carlos Boozer had a good night in game 2 with 20 points and 15 rebounds with 10 of 16 shooting. Despite missing two starters the Jazz still got 33 points on 11 of 19 shooting from their bench.
Denver and Utah last played on Monday night so both teams will have good rest for this one. But three days rest may not be enough for power forward Kenyon Martin as he has been listed as a game time decision with an ailing knee injury. Martin produced for 15 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field. His rebounding totals were way down in game 2 with just 3 boards compared to 12 in game 1. Carmelo Anthony produced 32 points in game 2 but only made 9 of 25 from the floor. J.R. Smith went ice cold from the three point line making just 1 of 6. Denver has much room to improve in this game and we may see a strong effort here from the Nuggets to avoid a 2-1 deficit in this series.
Trend: Denver Nuggets are 7-1-2 ATS in their past 10 games versus Utah Jazz
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