Key #1 – Play with confidence
As I just mentioned, the Jazz own a 2-0 regular season series lead over the Denver Nuggets and were able to shut them down with relative ease in the latest meeting. Therefore, even though this bout is set to take place in Denver, the Jazz have to view this opponent in the exact same way – as extremely beatable.
The Nuggets have some solid young talent, but nobody that figures to completely overwhelm any one Jazz player that they’ll be matched up against. Yes, Nikola Jokic will be harder to stop without Rudy Gobert available, but Derrick Favors and the Jazz did just that in the previous meeting.
And although road games have been an absolute issue for Utah, if they want to have any hope of qualifying for the playoffs, they’ll have to stop that trend sooner rather than later. A .188 win percentage in away games simply isn’t going to be enough to get the job done, so Utah needs to believe that they can do better than that and start executing away from Vivint Smart Home Arena right away.
An element of their road woes has been getting off to slow starts and doing so against a formidable Denver team would be equivalent to a death wish. They’re capable of scoring in bunches and capitalize very well on momentum, so Utah needs to come in focused, energized and confident from the onset.
If they’re able to set that tone from the very beginning and maintain it all game long, they may very well take the first step to reversing their dismal play on the road that they’ve exhibited so far this season.