Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz Predictions, Tips and Preview

Steffen Schmidt - October 19, 2022

Utah Jazz start a rebuild season with the home game against Denver Nuggets who will finally have Jokic, Murray, and Porter in the squad

• The Jazz lost Mitchell, Gobert, and Bogdanovic in the offseason
• They also have a new head coach who will need some time to adjust to this new team without the biggest stars
• The Nuggets are finally all healthy

Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz Tips

• Denver Nuggets -8 @ -110 (1.90)

• Utah Jazz Under 106.5 Points @ -115 (1.86)

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Analysis and Reason for Predictions

Jamaal Murray and Michael Porter Jr will make the Nuggets contenders again

Denver Nuggets had to exit the playoffs in the very opening round with a tough matchup against the latter champions Golden State Warriors.

Nonetheless, the mere appearance in the postseason was a massive success given they spent the whole season without two of their three best attacking options.

Both Jamaal Murray and Michael Porter Jr are ready to start the new season, meaning Nikola Jokic will have much more space and options on the offensive end.

We also have to mention the addition of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who logged in 13.4 points per game last season for the Los Angeles Lakers.

We can’t wait to see the healthy Nuggets in action. They will be big favorites against the Jazz for a reason.

The Jazz start a rebuild

While Denver will enter the 2022/23 campaign with the highest ambitions, the story is completely opposite with Utah Jazz. After winning the division last year but suffering an early playoffs exit, the team decided to go for a rebuild.

The Jazz thus have a new head coach in the like of the ex-Celtics assistant manager Will Hardy. They also traded star Donovan Mitchell to the Cavs and the multiple defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves in exchange for a number of 1st round picks.

Colin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen will now be Utah’s biggest stars on the roster, while the fans expect a lot from rookie Walker Kessler.

Will it be enough for a playoffs push, though? It almost certainly won’t.

Healthy Nuggets to storm past the Jazz

Utah Jazz lost three of their top four point scorers in the likes of Mitchell, Bogdanovic, and Gobert. They are up against a highly-motivated Nuggets team that will finally have all of their stars available after two of them missed the whole last season. This can only go one way and we will go with the Nuggets to win in -8 at the -110 odds.

While Markkanen and Sexton are great scorers, we believe Utah’s new head coach will need some time to bed in the new arrivals. We’ll thus go with the Jazz to score fewer than 106.5 points at the -115 odds.