LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Utah Jazz are going to the NBA Playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.
The Jazz finished the 2019-2020 season in sixth place in the Western Conference at 44 wins and 28 losses. They will kick off the league's first round of playoffs against the third-seeded Denver Nuggets (46-27 record) in a best-of-seven-games series starting Monday.
Full schedule (Times are in MDT):
- Game 1: Monday, Aug. 17, 11:30 a.m. Televised on ESPN
- Game 2: Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2 p.m. Televised on TNT
- Game 3: Friday, Aug. 21, 2 p.m. Televised on TNT
- Game 4: Sunday, Aug. 23, 7 p.m. Televised on TNT
Games 5, 6 and 7 will be played on Aug. 25, 27 and 29, respectively, if they are necessary to determine a winner. Times and TV schedules for these potential games are yet to be determined.
For the first two games at least, Utah will be without their starting point guard Mike Conley, who left the "NBA bubble" in Orlando for the birth of his son.
The Jazz have lost all three games they've played against the Nuggets this season. Many sports analysts believe the Jazz intentionally lost some of their final games of the season to move down in the rankings and avoid facing the Houston Rockets, who eliminated them in back-to-back playoffs. Houston beat Utah in the first round in 2019, and in the second round (conference semi-finals) the year before.
- Related story: The Utah Jazz wanted the Denver Nuggets and got them. But was that such a good idea? (Salt Lake Tribune report)
The full NBA Playoffs schedule for all teams involved can be viewed on the league's website here.
(Image courtesy NBA via Twitter)
