NBA Playoff Predictions For First-Round Series Between Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets
Aug 16, 2020, 9:24 PM | Updated: 9:24 pm
The NBA Playoff logo seat covering, on the Utah Jazz team's chairs, before their game against the Golden State Warriors in Game Four of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2017 NBA Playoffs at Vivint Smart Home Arena on May 8, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
(Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – National media outlets from around the country have published their predictions for who will win the first-round NBA Playoffs series between the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets.
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The No. 6 seed Jazz are scheduled to open the postseason against the No. 3 seed Nuggets on Monday, August 17.
Utah will begin the opening round without Bojan Bogdanovic, Mike Conley, Ed Davis, and Justin Wright-Foreman.
Denver swept the season series 3-0 against Utah.
The most recent meeting between the Northwest Divison teams was on August 8. The Jazz fell to the Nuggets 134-132 in double overtime.
Both the @UtahJazz and the Denver Nuggets tanked games to face one another in the first round.
But why did Denver want to face the Jazz?https://t.co/L5lpKQsLhQ
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) August 14, 2020
ESPN
Jerry Bembry: Nuggets in 5
Nick DePaula: Nuggets in 6
Nick Friedell: Nuggets in 7
Andrew Han: Nuggets in 6
Andrew Lopez: Nuggets in 5
Zach Lowe: Nuggets in 7
Tim MacMahon: Nuggets in 7
Bobby Marks: Nuggets in 7
Dave McMenamin: Nuggets in 5
Kevin Pelton: Nuggets in 7
Jorge Sedano: Nuggets in 6
Ramona Shelburne: Nuggets in 6
Andre’ Snellings: Nuggets in 6
Marc Spears: Nuggets in 7
Eric Woodyard: Jazz in 7
Royce Young: Nuggets in 7
Ohm Youngmisuk: Nuggets in 6
CBS Sports
Bill Reiter: Nuggets in 5
Sam Quinn: Nuggets in 5
Brad Botkin: Nuggets in 6
James Herbert: Nuggets in 7
Colin Ward-Henninger: Nuggets in 5
Jack Maloney: Nuggets in 6
Michael Kaskey-Blomain: Nuggets in 6
Jasmyn Wimbish: Nuggets in 6
USA Today
Matt Eppers: Nuggets in 6
Mark Medina: Jazz in 7
Heather Tucker: Nuggets in 5
Jeff Zillgitt: Nuggets in 6
Yahoo! Sports
Vincent Goodwill: Nuggets in 6
Ben Rohrbach: Nuggets in 6
Keith Smith: Nuggets in 5
Denver Post
Mike Singer: Nuggets in 6
Kyle Fredrickson: Nuggets in 7
Sean Keeler: Nuggets in 6
Mark Kiszla: Nuggets in 7
Matt Schubert: Nuggets in 6
Others
NBA.com‘s Michael C. Wright: Nuggets in 6
Sporting News‘ Jordan Greer: Nuggets in 6
The Athletic‘s John Hollinger: Nuggets in 6
“Donovan Mitchell is going to have to do it all.” 💪@steve21smith details why Mitchell has to play like a consistent superstar in order for Utah to advance to the Second Round. #GameTime pic.twitter.com/otgLoO5Gl6
— NBA TV (@NBATV) August 16, 2020
FiveThirtyEight’s Projection
Nuggets: 67 percent chance to win series
Jazz: 33 percent chance to win series
Out of the national reporters and media outlets listed above, the overwhelming favorite to win the first-round matchup was Denver.
The Jazz and Nuggets will tip-off Game 1 of the seven-game series on Monday, August 17 at 11:30 a.m. (MDT). The game will broadcast on ESPN, AT&T SportsNet, and 97.5 FM.
