![]() ![]() Moreover, they match up well with Denver. So why would they tank their way to the sixth seed to face them in the first round? Well, for first, they want to avoid Houston at all costs and they succeeded in that department. Utah has never defeated Denver this season. Utah is aware of its shortcomings, especially against Denver With that, the Jazz have another option they can go to in late game situations aside from Donovan Mitchell. This included a 35-point outing in a close Game 4 win, where he also made a clutch floater to force overtime.ġ early Jazz concern from 2023-24 NBA preseason In their first round series against the San Antonio Spurs, Conley averaged 24.7 points and 7.0 assists across six games. The 6-foot-1 guard played extremely well in his most recent playoff series in 2017. Conley will certainly need to serve as the 2nd or 3rd scoring option for the Jazz for the rest of their postseason run.Ĭonley has shown that he is capable of performing in big playoff games. Utah lost second leading scorer Bojan Bogdanovic to surgery right before the restart. In these bubble games, however, Conley has managed to increase his production to 18.0 points and 5.0 assists on slightly better efficiency at 43.2 percent from the field. Prior to the restart, the 32-year old averaged just 14.0 points and 4.3 assists, while shooting just 40.6 percent from the field. However, the usually efficient floor general struggled from the field throughout the year. Many expected Conley to be a major contributor for them this season. Mike Conley's first season with the Utah Jazz has been, for the large part, underwhelming. Mike Conley is a big game player in the playoffs ![]() With that, the Jazz can utilize this weapon to their advantage given Denver's deficiencies in defending the three. Utah attempted the 2nd most three-pointers in the bubble next to the Houston Rockets. It may just be a one-game sample size, but it seems like Utah knows what it needs to do against Denver's defense in their upcoming 7-game series.įurthermore, despite the loss of arguably their top three-point shooter in Bojan Bogdanovic, the Jazz have further embraced the three-point shot since the season restarted. The Jazz hoisted up 55 three-pointers in that double-OT thriller, way more than their overall season average of just 35.2 per game. Nonetheless, Utah used the three-ball more than they usually do in their lone bubble game against the Nuggets just a week ago. In the restart, however, the Jazz dropped to just 35.6 percent as a team. Utah finished the 2019-20 season as the best team in terms of three-point shooting percentage (38 percent). This is something the Jazz can certainly utilize to their advantage. They ranked dead last in defensive rating (121.7) and were also the worst team in opposing three-point percentage (44.8 percent), per NBA.com. The Nuggets had the worst defense among all 22 teams in the bubble. Denver's poor defense, especially on three-pointers With their ability to penetrate to the basket and attract defenses inside the paint, Utah could use their speed to make the Nuggets work and scramble on defense. Mitchell, Conley, and Clarkson are all capable of creating their own shots and creating for their teammates as well. They have smaller but faster guards in Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley, and Jordan Clarkson who can get past Denver's bigger guards and create plays by moving the ball. ![]() The Jazz, however, will likely counter with their speed. and Bol Bol, both of whom have emerged for the Nuggets in the bubble, stand 6-foot-10 and 7-foot-2, respectively.ĭenver likely won't field in the all-big man lineup they tried out in the bubble scrimmage games, but their size across all positions is an advantage they can utilize. Superstar big man Nikola Jokic is 7-feet, while promising rookies Michael Porter Jr. Their point guard is a 6-foot-4 Jamal Murray. Denver arguably has the biggest team in the NBA. In a league that's going the small-ball route, the Denver Nuggets are experimenting on the opposite direction. They have the speed advantage to counter Denver's size Here are four reasons why the Utah Jazz will defeat the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2020 NBA playoffs: 1. Thus, these 2020 playoffs are prime for upsets, and the Jazz may just end up sending the heavily favored Nikola Jokic-powered Nuggets out of Orlando early. Though the Nuggets hold the third seed, homecourt advantage is essentially nonexistent throughout the 2020 playoffs with all teams playing under one roof in the Disney World complex. Nonetheless, the Jazz still face a formidable first round match-up in the Denver Nuggets. ![]() In doing so, they managed to avoid seeing the Houston Rockets, the team that has knocked them out in either the first or second round over the last two playoffs, until the Western Conference Finals. No matter how much they deny it, the Jazz orchestrated a superb tank job to fall into the sixth seed. ![]()
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