The Denver Nuggets are coming off a pretty terrible loss to the New York Knicks. Games like that happen throughout an 82-game season, but that doesn’t make them feel any better.

Denver will hope to get the bad taste of that game out of their mouth with a quick trip to Utah. The Jazz aren’t a good team, and they just lost last night. Surely the Nuggets will take them seriously…right?

Let’s delve into the Utah Jazz matchup:

Denver Nuggets @ Utah Jazz

Projected Starting Lineups

Denver: Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, Michael Porter Jr., Nikola Jokic

Utah: Keyonte George, Collin Sextion, Bryce Sensabaugh, John Collins, Walker Kessler

Key Bench Players

Denver: Russell Westbrook, Trey Alexander, Julian Strawther, Dario Saric or DeAndre Jordan

Utah: Isaiah Collier, Johnny Juzang, Svi Mykhailiuk, Drew Eubanks

Notable Injuries

Denver: Peyton Watson – PROBABLE, Aaron Gordon – OUT, Vlatko Cancar – OUT, DaRon Holmes II – OUT

Utah: Jordan Clarkson – OUT, Kyle Filipowski – OUT, Taylor Hendricks – OUT

Lauri Markkanen also bumped knees late in last night’s game and had to be helped off the floor.

Key for the Nuggets – How much effort do you want to give?

Michael Malone was poignant in his comments about the poor Denver Nuggets effort in Monday night’s game against the New York Knicks. Nobody escaped his criticism, saying that the Nuggets leadership needed to be better and that the loss was unacceptable.

Now, the Nuggets go on the road, and they’re going to have to motivate for this one. They never get up for Utah on the road, who’s coming off a home loss against the San Antonio Spurs last night. Will the Nuggets be able to self-motivate? Or will their energy and desire to execute the game plan at the highest level leave something to be desired?

I bet Jokic will be ready to go.

Important Matchup – Jamal Murray vs Keyonte George

Murray found a bit of scoring and playmaking rhythm on Monday with 20 points and seven assists across three quarters. It came without a lot of defensive engagement, but it was nice to see Murray make good decisions and execute well.

He will face off against Keyonte George, who had 25+ points last night for just the second time this season. He seems to be finding a bit of a scoring rhythm, and if the Nuggets are lax in their coverages, he can put up some points up in a hurry.

This is a matchup that Murray should be able to exploit. Will he?

Number of the Day – 147.4

That’s the Nuggets defensive rating from their matchup on Monday against the Knicks, according to Cleaning the Glass which eliminates garbage time. That game was in the 100th percentile for points per 100 possessions allowed by any defense so far this year.

If the Nuggets are going to be a serious contender this year, they’re going to have to commit to the defensive end.

Nugget who should have a good game: Peyton Watson

Watson is at the center of that commitment. He’s the team’s best defensive player in my opinion, but last game against the Knicks, he didn’t play like it. He had zero rebounds, zero steals, and zero blocks and played just 22 minutes. It wasn’t his night.

If Watson wants to be a starter, he has to limit the off nights defensively. That’s his calling card. He has the capacity to be a game changing defender that earns All-Defense consideration. To be that way, he has to be relentless.

I expect Watson to bounce back tonight on both ends of the floor and make an impact.