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Denver Nuggets vs. Utah Jazz Wednesday NBA Preview & Free Pick

Nuggets vs Jazz NBA Handicapping

Eight games left in the regular season and the Denver Nuggets are pretty much fat and happy as they ready for the playoffs.

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Denver Nuggets (50-24) at Utah Jazz (39-36)
EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City
9 p.m. EST
Spread – Jazz -2.5 from BETDSI
  O/U – 205

Matchup | Preview

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Virtually unbeatable (33-3) at home, the Nuggets will play five more games at the Pepsi Center before starting the playoffs.

And while catching the Spurs or Thunder for one of the top two playoff seeds is just about out of the question, they have vaulted past the sputtering Clippers and now find themselves as the No. 3 seed.

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Heady stuff for a team that lacks star power and survives on depth and running teams to death.

But George Karl does have a few concerns as his team gets ready to take on the Jazz in Salt Lake City tonight, primarily the status of Ty Lawson’s aching foot.

Lawson is dealing with a plantar fascia tear in his right heel, and his injury was a dagger as Denver’s 15-game winning streak came to a halt in New Orleans. The Nuggets also lost a one-point heartbreaker two nights later in San Antonio (Lawson played briefly but the pain sent him to the bench) before getting things back together at home against Brooklyn.

Karl thinks Lawson will return in a few weeks, or just about in time for the start of the playoffs. But until Lawson comes back, the point guard responsibilities fall on the 37-year-old shoulders of veteran Andre Miller – and the Nuggets are just not the same team when Miller is calling signals. [ad-6571516]

“They’re different,” acknowledges Karl. “Ty is speed, pushing the ball, whereas Andre is cleverness. I think it’s going to be more of a team commitment to keep the pace at a high level, not relying on Ty’s talent. I think it will be interesting, if it goes 6-7 games, to see if we do slow down. I personally don’t think we will.”

Maybe Karl has something with the team speed thing. Against the Nets Miller had only three assists and the offense went through off guard Andre Iguodala (8 assists) and forward Danilo Gallinari (6 assists). On this team the ball moves a lot, and it moves quickly. With or without Lawson.

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The Jazz are hardly slouches at protecting serve at home, where they’re 28-9 and coming off wins over Brooklyn and Portland as Utah battles the Lakers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Mo Williams has come out on nowhere and is playing out of his mind, and double-double machine Al Jefferson is the conference player of the week. Jazz to cover this one at home as the Nuggets continue to figure out how they want to play things without Lawson at the point.

By Lawrence Paul

Lawrence Paul is back in the saddle as a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog. He's got an AMAZING knack for predicting when a team will have a letdown! Stick with our resident gambling experts sports betting tips all season long!