The Utah Jazz are a win away from reserving their spot in the second round of the playoffs. The Denver Nuggets, however, still have a chance to extend the series with a win this Wednesday. Check out our preview of this game below.
On Sunday, the Jazz made sure that another 50-point night from Donovan Mitchell would not go to waste. Mitchell exploded for 51 points in Game 4, knocking down 15 of 27 shots from the field and 17 of 18 from the foul line to lead Utah to a 129-127 win over the Nuggets. That was Mitchell’s second 50-point game in this series after going off for 57 in the opener. Mitchell is now averaging 39.5 points on 56.3 percent shooting from the field through four games in the series. Mitchell is not going to score 50 points every night, but he’s so hot right now that it doesn’t make sense to doubt him doing it again against Denver’s defense that is the worst among all active teams in the playoffs. Denver has allowed 125.5 points per game in the first round, with Utah also shooting over 51 percent from the field against the Nuggets.
The Jazz are 2-2 against the spread in their last four games as the road team.
It was Denver’s turn to waste a 50-piece, as Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 50 points on 18-of-31 shooting from the field with nine 3-pointers, 11 rebounds, and seven assists, albeit in a loss in Game 4. Nikola Jokic had 29 points and seven rebounds with six assists. The loss was another wakeup call to Denver’s defense to be tighter. The Nuggets took 27 more shots than Utah and made 49 percent of their field-goal attempts, which should have been enough for Denver to win. But the Nuggets were getting abused on defense, not only by Mitchell but Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson as well. Denver tried to fix its defense by sending Michael Porter Jr. to the bench, which might as well be the case again in Game 5. Gary Harris remains unlikely to play anytime soon, though, his status has been upgraded to “doubtful.” The Nuggets could definitely use his defense in this series.
