#8 Utah Jazz vs. #1 Denver Nuggets

[The Athletic]

vs. 
#8 Utah Jazz             #1 Denver Nuggets 

I think it's safe to say TJ and his Jazz had a tough year, besides some weird injury issues, it just didn't seem like TJ had that same fire in like in past years to build a winner. Kevin on the other hand was all in from the start, and while the Nuggets weren't quite able to go undefeated their amazing season can 100% be attributed to the hard work Kevin put in as a GM.  To start off their a couple things we need to look at heading into this match-up.  The reason the Jazz may have a shot is because of the injury angle.  The Nuggets are missing 2 of their best three players in Paul Millsap and Nik Vucevic.  It's very unlikely either are back for this match-up but the Nuggets are hoping they can scrape by the Jazz this week and get them back for round 2.  The Jazz got news that Conley is done for the year, and that really hurts their chances moving forward.  Despite this the Jazz hve a very nice team and are led by Eric Bledsoe, Jusuf Nurkic, and Niko Mirotic.  

The Jazz are dealign with injuries in their own right, Terrence Ross, Rudy Gay, and previously mentioned Mike Conley are all out should be out for the whole match-up.  There are however a couple things going in the Jazz favor this week.  Wes Johnson has settled into a nice role in LA and should be big moving forward, and Tristan Thompson has finally regained a starting role, and should be a contributor moving forward.  The Jazz really do have some nice depth, but this team just lacks star power.  The team should be able to put up solid numbers over the two weeks as they have numerous contributors, but guys like Nurk and Bledsoe are going to have to put up gaudy numbers to stay with the short handed Nuggets.

The key to this team has and always will be Victor Oladipo.  Dipo has had a monster year, and really has carried the Nuggets to numerous wins.  He'll really need to do the same in round 1.  The thign with Dipo is he is more volatile than other stars, so if he has a bad night, he could be in the 20's because a lot of his value comes from his scoring.  Another huge X factor is the play of Elfrid and Ricky Rubio, both have been very up and down this year.  When both are clicking, this Nuggets team is very good even without Millsap and Vuc, but when both are slumping this team is very very beatable.  Thad Young has picked it up recently, and again it'll be interesting to see if it's a long term thing or if Myles Turner coming back means Thad will come back down to earth. 

I think this one is going to be a lot closer than a lot of people think.  The Nuggets need a good two weeks from Payton and Rubio because if they don't, and Bledsoe and Nurk get going we could have a contest.  I'll still take the Nuggets by a few, but don't be surprised if it isn't decided until late week 2.