Utah Jazz subject to late thrashing, injury scares in Denver

The NBA schedule makers got the better of the Utah Jazz, who stalled out late on the wrong end of a back-to-back against the Denver Nuggets.

Before the Utah Jazz tipped off their Saturday night road bout with the Denver Nuggets, fellow J-Noter Hayden Van de Maat and myself had big ideas about how they should handle their business. Our plan was simple — rest everybody and give the bench guys some extra run; this game was a sure loser.

The scheduling alone painted a grim picture. We’re talking the wrong end of a back-to-back…following a flight through one of the most notoriously turbulent areas in the country…against one of the best teams in the Association. Throw in the fact that the game hit directly after a disappointing loss and that the Jazz roster has already incurred some injuries, and waiving the white flag felt like a no-brainer (at least to us).

Radical as that plan may have sounded to the rest of our gang heading into Game 9 of the regular season, it looks like it may have been the way to go.

Despite a strong showing through three quarters against the Nuggets, the Jazz acquired a big, bad case of the back-to-back blues late, getting outscored by 20 points in the final carom of a 103-88 loss.

Along the way, the Jazz were subject to multiple injury scares. Joe Ingles, Dante Exum and Rudy Gobert were all hobbled at various junctures and, in a moment that inspired sheer terror within the Jazzland masses, Donovan Mitchell looked to have been injured seriously on a late drive, to the point where he couldn’t leave the floor without assistance.

Ultimately, Mitchell returned to the game after getting his left ankle re-taped, which is probably the best thing that happened in the contest for the Jazz band.

Where actual in-game performance was concerned, Jae Crowder was perhaps the lone bright spot for the Jazz. Crowder scored a team-high 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting, hitting four threes and adding five boards and three blocked shots in the game.

He’s now sitting well north of the 14 PPG and 40 percent from 3-point range plateaus on the year and has low-key been one of the Association’s best reserve players this season.

As a team, though, it was tough sledding for Utah. The Jazz hit on just 41 percent of their shots overall and 19 percent from distance in the game. They also lost the paint and bench scoring battles.

All that being said, Jazz fans should refrain from hitting the panic button. This game was likely decided back in August when the 2018-19 NBA schedule was released. And it’s just one of a litany of tough early games for the crew. The recent glut of injuries have been a factor as well.

The Jazz still have 73 games to go and all of their goals remain firmly in play. 4-5 start aside, nothing has changed for the team.

Keep the faith, things will turn around.