The Utah Jazz will play the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs on Wednesday.

The Nuggets found themselves at the winning end of a tight Game 1 and the main reason why they escaped with victory was the play of Jamal Murray, as the star point guard finished with a team-high 36 points while adding nine assists and five rebounds. Nikola Jokic contributed 29 points and 10 rebounds, while also adding three assists and two steals. Michael Porter Jr. had 13 points with eight assists, and Torrey Craig contributed 11 points. Jerami Grant (19 points) and Monte Morris (14 points, four assists) produced off the bench as well. Denver got off to a slow start in the second half, however, as they blew a 12-point lead and found themselves down by five in the fourth quarter. They can't allow committing the same mistakes once again, as the offense won't bail out the lackluster defense on a nightly basis.

Will Barton (knee), Gary Harris (hip) and Vlatko Cancar (foot) all missed Game 1 of the series. Barton and Harris should be treated as questionable -- at best -- for Game 2, while Cancar is out for the remainder of the season.

Just like it happened in Game 1, the Jazz will be without Mike Conley (personal) for Game 2 so Donovan Mitchell will be in charge of carrying the team offensively. The star guard delivered a career-high 57 points (on 19-of-33 shooting) while adding nine rebounds and seven assists Monday, but he is not going to score at that rate on a nightly basis, so the rest of the team needs to step it up, particularly on the defensive end of the court after giving up 135 points in the first game of the series. Other notable performers in Game 1 were Joe Ingles (19 points, six assists and five rebounds), Rudy Gobert (17 points, seven boards and four blocks) and Jordan Clarkson (18 points and four boards off the bench).

Aside from Conley, the Jazz will be without Ed Davis (knee) and Bojan Bodganovic (wrist). Davis will miss the first round of the playoffs -- at least -- and Bogdanovic is out for the season.