After one of their worst losses of the 2018-19 season, the Utah Jazz face a crucial game against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
There’s no sugar-coating it — the Utah Jazz screwed the pooch on Sunday night.
By dropping what seemed a sure win against a lowly LA Lakers squad missing nine rotation regulars, including LeBron James, their path to a more favorable playoff seed and match-up was dealt a serious blow. And the Denver Nuggets did little to help the cause with their decision to sit key players and cede a win to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Now, though, Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz band get the chance to get back on the right track, get a small measure of revenge on their Rocky Mountain rivals in the process and keep a 4/5 series with the Blazers (who are likely a safe bet to stay put at fourth) in play.
If you want the Jazz to make any kind of postseason noise, the latter is something that needs to happen, which makes both their upcoming game and their season finale against the LA Clippers wins they desperately need.
On Tuesday night, the Jazz will play host to a Nuggets squad that’s dropped five of its last nine games. And while they’ll be without the services of Ricky Rubio (quad), Kyle Korver (knee), Raul Neto (ankle) and Dante Exum (patellar tendon surgery), they should get a boost from the return of Derrick Favors (back) who is probable to play in the game.
Given the fact that Nikola Jokic should be back in the lineup for Denver, that extra big men depth will be at a premium for the Jazz. Over his last five games, Jokic has averaged 22 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and two steals per 36 minutes and made better than 65 percent of his shot attempts.
When last these two teams met, Favors and Rudy Gobert were able to keep Jokic in check, holding him to 5-of-15 shooting and forcing him into five turnovers. Still, the All-Star center was able to corral 13 boards and dish out seven dimes. As a result, the Nuggets outscored the Jazz by two when he was in the game despite ultimately losing by seven.
More from The J-Notes
- With the FIBA World Cup over for Simone Fontecchio, it’s clear he deserves minutes for the Utah Jazz
- Best, Worst and Most likely scenarios for the Utah Jazz this season
- Hoops Hype downplays the significance of the Utah Jazz’s valuable assets
- 3 Utah Jazz players who have the most to gain or lose this season
- Former Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is a free agent still and it shouldn’t surprise anyone
Although both teams rank among the league’s best in rebounding, the Jazz must take care in keeping Jokic and his squad off the offensive glass. For the year, the Nuggets lead the league in offensive rebounding rate, collecting 31.1 percent of available offensive boards.
In their loss to the Lakers, the Jazz were minus six on the offensive glass and lost the overall battle of the boards by 16.
The Jazz also need to get more out of Mitchell, who went 0-for-7 in the decisive fourth quarter in La-La Land.
For my part, I expect the short-handed Jazz to get back to winning in a relatively tight one against a Nuggets team that has been up and down recently and seems unconcerned with the race for playoff positioning.
They may be shorthanded here, but the Jazz have managed to play the Nuggets relatively well this season and there’s a lot on the line for the team in their final two contests of the regular season.
PREDICTION: Utah Jazz win 108-104.
Tip-off for the Jazz-Nuggets affair is at 7 PM MT. As always, the game discussion will be poppin’ in the comment thread on this page, so be sure to join in!