The Denver Nuggets lost to the Jazz Saturday night 109-97, but the score wasn’t the important thing. Denver’s starters all looked healthy and active in their first half of action in the preseason, and the bench unit had some good minutes trying to build cohesion and figure out their roles. Julian Strawther led all Nuggets with 14 points while Aaron Gordon had 12, and Nikola Jokic had a team-high 7 assists to go with one official shot attempt, and Tyus Jones had 6 assists with Jamal Murray missing the game for personal reasons. There are not a lot of serious takes to have after one pre-season game, but just seeing them back on the hardwood was enough in Game 1.
Game Flow
Jamal Murray did not play (personal reasons but he was still on the bench) but Denver still ran the ball through Nikola Jokic early, starting with a great inside pass to Aaron Gordon for a traditional three-point play and a very-welcome transition bucket for Christian Braun as he showed off his healthy hops. After Keyonte George drove the hoop for a Utah basket, Jokic found Aaron Gordon again on a baseline cut for a reverse layup, then AG grabbed a tough defensive board and found Braun on the baseline for some free throws (that Braun missed). Cam Johnson buried a 3 off a Tyus Jones assist, while Jusuf Nurkic missed a pair of shots for the Jazz. Jokic found Braun for a layup, but Jaren Jackson Jr. answered with a corner 3. George hit a Utah jumper, Cam nailed a Jokic-assisted 3, and DeMar DeRozan was the first player in off the bench with 5 minutes gone. Cam and Christian each missed threes as Utah tied it at 15, then Markkanen gave Utah the lead with a three. The Jazz made a couple more buckets to push the lead to 8, until Braun got on the floor for a loose ball and found Trevon Brazile for a dunk to make it 23-17. New Denver backup center Marvin Bagley had his dunk blocked but got the ricochet and the putback. DeRozan hit a long 2 but Utah answered with a three as they kept making buckets. Julian Strawther made a hook shot in the paint, but Utah led 36-26 after one.
The second quarter started fitfully with both teams having some awkward missed until DeRozan finished through contact and made his free throw. Tyus Jones buried a three, answered by Isaiah Collier with one of his own. Zeke Nnaji made a couple of free throws to cut the deficit to 39-35 as Denver’s starters began to filter back in. Jokic hit a beautiful full-court pass to Braun for a dunk through uncalled contact to cut it to a 41-39 deficit. Utah hit free throws and another three after a Jokic turnover to push the lead back to 7, and Gordon missed a heavy dunk attempt. Ryan Nembhard missed a corner 3 but AG grabbed the rebound and dunk. Cam Johnson hit a jumper then had a block on Markkanen which turned into a corner 3 from Aaron Gordon, as the Nuggets still trailed 52-46. Jaren Jackson Jr. made a 2 over Braun, Tyus Jones buried a 3 for Jokic’s 7th assist. Jokic finally took his first official shot of the half in the final minute and made it, but Denver still went into halftime down 63-52.
The starters sat the second half, so the opening shift was Tyus Jones, Julian Strawther, Cam Whitmore, Trevon Brazile and Marvin Bagley. Bagley hit a strong dunk to immediately force a timeout from Utah. Keyonte George bounced in a three-pointer, but Bagley backed down George on the other end and forced a foul. Cam Whitmore made his first 3 with Denver, Brazile had a nice transition bucket, and then Whitmore made his second three after letting George finish at the rim. George hit a corner 3 in return, and Strawther buried a buzzer three from the corner to cut Utah’s lead to 71-64. Utah hit another 3 though, and Nnaji couldn’t finish at the rim – and then got called for a screening foul. Julian recovered his own miss for a putback, Brazile blocked Ace Bailey and then Strawther hit a 3 to cut it to 78-73. Bailey got a dunk for Utah, Brazile answered with a deep three, but Utah went on a 10-3 run as Denver’s deep bench got into the contest for the first time. Holmes had some good energy on an almost-steal, an offensive rebound and a defensive box-out, but the offense struggled to end as Denver finished the quarter down 88-77.
Alpha Diallo forced a backcourt violation on the first play of the fourth quarter, then Bryce Hopkins got a steal and was fouled for free throws. Nembhard hit a long two for Denver, Holmes missed a three, and Whitmore missed a two. The offense struggled, but Holmes had a nice runout for a dunk. DaRon couldn’t finish a lob as Diallo almost had a couple more steals, then a nice defensive play by Holmes and Brazile led to a transition Holmes dunk as the Nuggets kept playing hard despite being down 100-84. Holmes blocked Bamba and Nembhard hit a transition 3, but Denver couldn’t make up any ground and the training camp invitees came in for the final three minutes. The final score was 109-97 as Utah took the win.
Final Thoughts
-Denver’s starters looked good. Nikola Jokic had some unbelievable passes, Cam Johnson was a willing shot-taker when the ball found him, and both Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun had nicely athletic finishes to show they had their legs under them. It was just a half of basketball but Tyus Jones fit in without Jamal Murray, and Denver worked on some rhythm thing in what was essentially a scrimmage for them.
-The first-game bench rotations might not be the permanent ones. Trevon Brazile was the first forward off the bench and that’s unlikely to be the case for the rookie in the regular season. He had some good highlights though, taking some open shots, running hard, affecting shots at the rim and using his length and athleticism to his advantage. Lonnie Walker IV only got garbage-time minutes, which again is unlikely to be the plan for the rest of the preseason. Strawther got up 13 shots in his 20 minutes, which is an early indicator that he knows his role is to get buckets in his minutes, and while the defense was a work-in-progress it was good to see Alpha Diallo get some good on-ball pressure in his second half minutes. Bench minutes will be fought for with this group, and I expect some mix-and-match basketball in some of the remaining games as the Nuggets look for the right mix of talent to supplement the starters in the early parts of the season.
Nuggets basketball is back, everyone! Enjoy that, and all the Jokic highlights you can find.
