Utah Jazz at Denver Nuggets 2011 NBA Preview, Odds, and Predictions: Head basketball coach Jerry Sloane will lead the Utah Jazz on the road to the Pepsi Center to take on All-Star Carmelo Anthony and his Denver Nuggets on Friday night at 10:30 PM ET on ESPN. The Jazz enter the game winning just 2 of their last 10 at 29-21 3rd in the Northwest while the Nuggets have won 1 and 6 of their last 10 to get to 29-20 2nd in the Northwest. The Nuggets have also won 5 in a row at home over the the Jazz and are looking to make it 6.
All-Star point guard Deron Williams has been out with a wrist injury and been replaced by back up Earl Watson. “Right now, all I care about is losing,” said Watson, who is averaging 4.5 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 8.5 points and 34.8 minutes in the four games Williams has missed. “I don’t care about the individual performance.” “I didn’t feel like we could take advantage of (the Rockets) with putting them under the basket and making them guard us there,” Sloan said. “When Deron’s here, that’s what we’re able to do at times. But we weren’t quite big enough to be able to post them up in that position.” The odds makers at Bodog have the Denver Nuggets a -9 1/2 point favorite at home against the Utah Jazz.
The Nuggets are coming off a victory 109-90 over the Portland Trail Blazers to move to just 21-25-3 ATS for the season. Center Nene Hilario led the Nuggets with 22 points on 9 or 13 shooting while pulling down 10 boards in just 32 minutes. Anthony chipped in 20 points points with 5 rebounds while Chauncey Billups also poured in 20 points with 5 assists. Denver is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Utah. Vegas odds makers have the Denver Nuggets +4500 to win the 2010-2011 NBA Championship.
The Jazz are coming off a 97-96 home loss to the Houston Rockets to move to 22-27-1 ATS for the season. Paul Millsap led the way with 20 points and 11 boards while Al Jefferson also chipped in 20 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for a double-double for both. The total has gone OVER in 5 of last 6 games when playing on the road against Denver. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 208 1/2 points combined of the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets.
I predict a big win at home for the Nuggets.
Note: Rich Fritz is a Blog Writer on NSAwins.com and not a pro handicapper. For expert NFL Football Predictions against the Vegas spreads please visit the NSAwins.com homepage for top predictions today from the National Sports Advisors.