On Star Wars night, the Denver Nuggets were looking to continue stacking wins, but their opponent was much stronger than teams they had played all year other than the Golden State Warriors. The Utah Jazz, who have started the season slow, are one of the premier teams in the Western Conference which made Denver’s matchup against them a great litmus test for the Nuggets.
Denver and Utah traded blows for most of the game and neither team was able to create much separation from one another, but the Nuggets were able to grind out yet another victory for their eighth win in nine tries giving them their best start since 1974 when they were the team was still in the ABA and called the Rockets. Denver beat the Jazz by a score of 103-88.
From the start of the game, it was clear how well-matched both Denver and Utah are, but in extremely different ways. Nikola Jokic was trying to pull Rudy Gobert out of the paint on offense by playing more on the perimeter while Gobert was setting screens and rolling to the rim hard on seemingly every offensive possession.
Both styles of play were working well. Jokic’s passing was the difference maker for Denver in the first quarter. By the time his first eight-minute stint ended, Jokic already had six assists and was orchestrating the Nuggets offense in whatever way he wanted. Still, the rim-rolling Gobert was forcing the Nuggets defense to provide weak-side help which opened the floor for the Jazz backcourt. That is when Ricky Rubio to fall into a rhythm early with nine first-quarter points.
Both Denver and Utah were executing exactly how they planned to and by the end of the first quarter, the Nuggets and the Jazz were tied at 25 points a piece.
The second quarter was much of the same. Both the Nuggets and Jazz refused to go away from their game plan and were successful in doing so. Neither team were willing to alter their schemes for the other which led to a heavy weight fight between two of the better teams in the Western Conference. It was not until Denver began playing relentless defense that they were able to extend their lead to seven points — the biggest lead of the game for either team in the first half.
By the time halftime came around, the Nuggets led fell to just one point by a score of 47-46.
The third quarter started on a very lackadaisical note for Denver. They were turning the ball over far too often and were unable to generate strong shots. Their defense also took a step backwards and suddenly the Jazz had them on their heels. Denver was looking for any kind of offensive spark. Denver continued to struggle mightily from three-point distance and the Jazz were able to execute just enough on offense to extend their lead to nine at one point.
By the time the third quarter came to an end, Denver trailed the Jazz 73-68. The Nuggets were desperate for any offensive production or positive momentum, but received none for the entirely of the quarter.
Finally, the Nuggets began executing on offense thanks to their bench unit led by the hot shooting of Malik Beasley and Mason Plumlee being a defensive stalwart while also adding an absurd three-pointer to beat the shot-clock buzzer. Denver had some positive momentum, a five-point lead, and saw a couple three-pointers fall which gave them the confidence to began running the Jazz off the floor for the remainder of the fourth quarter.
From the 9:20 mark of the fourth quarter until the end of the game, the Nuggets took off and began destroying the Jazz thanks to a 24-11 run and eventually stomped out the Jazz.
The Nuggets were led by Gary Harris who finished with an efficient 20 points on 8-13 shooting while also chipping in four rebounds. Jokic was passive and lacked aggression all night as he finished with just seven points on a measly nine shots, but did have 15 assists and eight rebounds in 31 minutes. Jae Crowder led the Jazz with 21 points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal and three blocks in 33 minutes. Denver’s bench also chipped in a massive 38 points as well.
Next, the Nuggets stay in the friendly confines of the Pepsi Center to take on the Boston Celtics on Monday night at 7pm MST.