The Denver Nuggets have lost two of three and travel to the Utah Jazz looking to right the ship. The Jazz have lost three in a row and are in great shape to win the draft lottery – which means they are primed to be beaten even with Denver on a back-to-back. Cam Johnson and Spencer Jones may not play, while Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon definitely won’t, so a short-handed Nuggets squad needs to get down to business and handle an even shorter-handed Jazz team that is trying to do anything except win. The Nuggets need to hand the Jazz some additional help in their tanking efforts and notch that win for Denver before seeing some much harder competition in the next week. Overlooking the Jazz would be a huge mistake, and one the Nuggets have to know they cannot make after blowing a couple of winnable games since the All-Star break already.
The Basics
Who: Denver Nuggets (37-24) at Utah Jazz (18-42)
When: 7:00 PM MST
Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City
How to watch/listen: Altitude TV / League Pass
Rival Blog: SLC Dunk
Injury Report | Nuggets: Cameron Johnson—day-to-day (ankle); Spencer Jones—day-to-day (shoulder); Peyton Watson—out (injury); Aaron Gordon—out (injury); Tamar Bates—out (foot);
Utah Jazz: Jaren Jackson Jr.—out (knee surgery); Walker Kessler—out (shoulder surgery); Kevin Love—out (rest); Lauri Markkanen—out (hip); Jusuf Nurkic—out (nose); Vince Williams Jr.—out (ACL)
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Will the Nuggets attack or sit back? Denver does its best work on both ends when they are forcing reactions from the other squad. Passivity is deadly for them – can they get active and attack the hoop on offense, clear the glass and push the pace defensively and in transition? Denver is on a back-to-back, but the Jazz are both trying to lose and poorly equipped with their active players to resist Denver’s means of attack. Denver needs to focus on this game and not let it become a trap. Get the work done early and let the deep bench handle the fourth quarter in a double-digit victory, please.
The thing to remember: The Jazz are not built for this. I don’t just want you readers to remember it, I want the Nuggets to remember it. Kyle Filipowski is going to be tasked with stopping Nikola Jokic because every single big defender Utah has is out. If Joker does not take advantage it will be a crime – but Denver has struggled before when teams go to a five-out concept with their second-string guys. Utah can’t handle Denver, but it’s up to Denver not to handle themselves. Don’t mess around, just handle the task, because strange things can happen in Utah after dark.
The thing to bet: Jokic triple-double. The Jazz don’t have anyone to keep him off the boards or stop him near the rim, and by drawing multiple defenders his passing lanes should be wide open. Call it a triple-double in three quarters because hopefully he can sit the fourth.
