How the public is betting Nuggets vs. Jazz first-round playoff series

The Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz open their first-round series on Monday, August 17th at 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Nuggets claimed the 3-seed in the playoffs, while the Jazz enter as the 6-seed after the seeding round. We’ll take a look at how the public is betting Game 1 of the series and beyond.

The Nuggets were a little banged up at the beginning of the NBA restart, but now they’re looking as explosive as ever. While Denver is still waiting for the return of Gary Harris and Will Barton, Michael Porter Jr. has been able to replace their offensive production. The rookie paired with Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic make the Nuggets legitimate championship contender. Denver is favored at -278 in its first-round series and commands a staggering 97 percent of the handle with 81 percent of the total bets.

The Jazz (+220) have been exposed in the bubble without sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic and will be missing Mike Conley for the beginning of their matchup with the Nuggets. They’ve struggled on the defensive end and might not have enough fire power to keep up with Denver at full strength. Because of this, Utah has a measly 3 percent of the handle on bets in its first-round series and 19 percent of the total bets.

Here’s the rest of the schedule for Nuggets-Jazz in the first round:

Game 1: Mon, Aug 17 Utah at Denver, 1:30 ET, ESPN
Game 2: Wed, Aug 19 Utah at Denver, 4 ET, TNT
Game 3: Fri, Aug 21 Denver at Utah, 4 ET, TNT
Game 4: Sun, Aug 23 Denver at Utah, 9 ET, TNT
Game 5*: Tue, Aug 25 Utah at Denver, TBD, TBD
Game 6*: Thu, Aug 27 Denver at Utah, TBD, ESPN
Game 7*: Sat, Aug 29 Utah at Denver, TBD, TNT

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