The Denver Nuggets return to the friendly confines of Ball Arena to host the Utah Jazz, but their mindset isn’t what it could have been, The Nuggets won two of three on their road trip, but losing a double-digit late lead to Minnesota again makes what would normally be counted as a successful trip into a frustrating one instead. Combined with Jamal Murray being in concussion protocol, the Nuggets have a short amount of time to shed the vibes of last night’s failure against the Timberwolves and refocus on defending the home court against winless Utah. The 0-5 short-handed Jazz lost by 18 to the San Antonio Spurs on Halloween and have more rest than Denver, but that’s about the only category they are rated higher in. They are the worst offense in the league as well as missing several key pieces and are in pole position for the Cooper Flagg draft sweepstakes. Denver needs to get healthy against their division rival in the worst way – this is not the time to let the Jazz get their first win of the season.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (2-3) vs Utah Jazz (0-5)
When: 8:00 PM MDT
Where: Ball Arena, Denver CO
How to watch/listen: You know where. KTVD Channel 20, Altitude TV (one of Fubo or Altitude+), Altitude Radio 92.5, NBA League Pass for those not in the Denver market, bring some sage and say you’ve been hired to smudge the court and get rid of the early season bad mojo
Injury Report: Aaron Gordon – PROBABLE (Bruised Right Knee), Jamal Murray – DOUBTFUL (Concussion protocol), Da’Ron Holmes – OUT (Achilles), Vlatko Cancar – OUT (Right Ankle Sprain); Isaiah Collier – OUT, (right hamstring strain), Taylor Hendricks – OUT (right fibula fracture), Lauri Markkanen – OUT (low back spasms), Jordan Clarkson – OUT (plantar fasciitis)
The (Two) Things
The Thing To Watch For: Who is playing point guard
Julius Randle collided with Jamal Murray on a play that left Murray holding his face as he went back to the locker room, and later he was ruled out due to concussion protocol. That protocol means he was tested for concussion but we don’t know if he was diagnosed with one. If he was, he will miss today’s game – players are not allowed to return to practice or play within 24 hours of their injury – as well as potentially more. If not, he still has to pass another set of tests before being allowed to play tonight, so his status is still up in the air at this time.
If he cannot play – and I’m assuming at the time of writing this that he will not – then that opens up minutes for both Julian Strawther to play some point guard as well as two-way rookie guard Trey Alexander. Russell Westbrook will likely join the starters, as Malone has done that a lot in prior seasons with backups Bruce Brown and Reggie Jackson when Murray could not go. Aaron Gordon may play more with the bench to give them another passer and ball-handler, especially considering the struggles backup big Dario Saric is going through to start the season. The roster shuffle begins if Jamal is out, but considering the number of games he has missed even in “healthy” seasons the Nuggets have to have a plan for this. Implementing it this soon would give them a chance to evaluate it and make changes, because this has been a concern since Denver decided to roll with an ineffective second-year point guard and a rookie with no experience as their options at third point guard.
The Thing To Remember: The Nuggets are still figuring things out
Denver’s starters look like they’re figuring it out. They easily out-played Minnesota’s starters – right up until the closing minutes when the lack of consistently effective point guard play reared its head. Denver’s bread and butter in the Jokic Era has has been the 1-5 pick and roll, and without Jamal Murray they had to go away from it. The glaring lack of any effective plays, as well as Jokic being swarmed by a team that had no fear of anyone else on the court, definitely showed they need other options when they can’t fall back on Old Reliable any more.
But figuring out the roles and deployment of Denver’s bench players is crucial to long-term success, and Denver is far from getting that right. The Utah Jazz are a perfect team in theory to work that out on. Without Lauri Markkanen, the Jazz have exactly zero scoring threats that Denver should have to focus on and should be able to play a standard defense. Keyonte George and Collin Sexton are not exactly the 2024 Celtics, and this is a great game to plug those defensive holes even if they’ll have to fight for rebounds against the Jazz, who do crash the glass hard. The Nuggets working on their rotations and effort on a back-to-back isn’t the easiest thing, but this is the best squad in the league for that.
Of course, Denver’s only two wins on the year were overtime slugfests that could easily have been losses against far inferior teams. Playing down to their opponent’s level is a longtime stumbling block for the Nuggets, and despite Utah being the worst-shooting team in the league from both 2-point and 3-point range, the Nuggets need to get their mojo back tonight. Julian Strawther has to find a role to excel in and stop fouling every 2 minutes. Peyton Watson needs to remember how to play defense at a minimum. Russell Westbrook has to figure out how to help his teammates when he’s got the rock instead of just playing so fast that no one can get set on either end of the court. Can Denver find a backup big to patch the immediate hole? This game against the Jazz isn’t really about the Jazz for Denver, it’s about getting themselves right. Hopefully Jamal’s status focuses the squad to work on the little things they haven’t gotten right yet this year and they can have a get-right game at home after a stressful road journey.
