Utah Jazz got fixated at #6 irrespective of the fact that its W-L of 44-28 was similar to #4 Houston Rockets and #5 Oklahoma City Thunder. Other criteria like winning percentages against each other or against the teams in the same division/conference come into play to break this tie. Anyway, Utah Jazz is matched against the Denver Nuggets in round 1.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The Nuggets are a clear favorite for many NBA analysts to win this series, but the ball can roll either way. In their last six outings, the Nuggets won the last three (2019-20 season) by a very close margin while the Jazz won the first three (2018-19 season). So we can expect an interesting battle. Let us now shift our focus on the injury updates.
Top Stories
Utah Jazz vs Denver Nuggets Injury Updates
Taking Utah Jazz’s injury list first, we have point guard Mike Conley, who is not injured but has left the bubble for the birth of his son. The NBA will test him for coronavirus every single day as per the safety guidelines and will have to serve a four-day quarantine as he comes back. Next, we have Ed Davis out of the team because of the left knee MCL injury. The team already lost Bojan Bogdanovic (one of the leading scorers) to a wrist injury earlier.
More depth concerns for Utah: Jazz F Ed Davis will miss the first-round playoff series against Denver with a left knee MCL injury, sources tell ESPN. He's expected to be re-evaluated in a few weeks, per sources.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 16, 2020
In the Denver Nuggets clan, small forward Will Barton will miss the Monday game due to knee issues. Also, shooting guard Gary Harris will not play the first game because of a sore hip. He suffered from the injury playing against the Toronto Raptors.
The probable line-up
The starting five for the Utah Jazz will most likely be Jordan Clarkson (PG), Donovan Mitchell (SG), Joe Ingles (SF), Royce O’Neale (PF), and Rudy Gobert (Center).
The most probable game openers for the Denver Nuggets will be Jamal Murray (PG), Torrey Craig (SG), Michael Porter Jr. (SF), Paul Millsap (PF), and Nikola Jokic (Center). Although Jamal had shown some hamstring issues, we expect him to play today.
The two Western Conference teams will play on August 17 at 1:30 PM ET, ESPN.
Read also – Denver Nuggets Vs Utah Jazz: Match Predictions
