Game thread: Utah Jazz play critical game in the mile high city
By Caleb Manser
The Utah Jazz get their first look at the Denver Nuggets, which may determine who gets a higher seed in the 2020 playoffs
Last night was a tough pill to swallow for Utah Jazz fans. They dropped their second straight game, once again facing a team without its best player.
They allowed DeMar DeRozan – a notorious mid range specialist – to go off for 38 points and lead his team to a 127 point outing. This feels bizarre given that the Jazz are fresh off a stretch where they won 19 out of 21 games, and beat the talented Dallas Mavericks in an exciting bout at home.
Tonight’s match will undoubtedly be one of the toughest ones perhaps since the Clippers game on December 28th. The Jazz are climbing up to Denver’s elevation just hours off of playing hard in The Alamo.
The Denver Nuggets are going through struggles of their own. They’ve won only six of their last ten games, and two of their losses during that stretch came against the Memphis Grizzlies and Cleveland Cavaliers.
In the month of January, Denver’s had the league’s 15th best net rating, pretty mediocre for a team hoping to make it to the Western Conference Finals or further.
Their last seven games they’ve been without their young point guard Jamal Murray. Their front office bet big on Murray to take a leap this season, and so far he’s failed to do so.
The Nuggets, like the Jazz, often get underrated and labelled as a good regular season team with no true superstars.
But you can’t deny their incredible depth. Some might call it a logjam, but I see it as a luxury for them to have four reliable bigs in their rotation, five if you include rookie Michael Porter Jr.
Their team is so deep that they can make a proper trade package for lots of big names out there, and be big players on the trade market when they decide it’s time to go all-in. It’s no coincidence they were linked to Bradley Beal‘s name before he extended his contract with the Wizards.
While the Jazz aren’t as deep as the Nuggets’ 10 man rotation, Utah’s five man unit can beat anyone when firing on all cylinders. Their starting five is a serious force to be reckoned with, and it will only get better as Mike Conley gets back to playing starters minutes.
The Nuggets run a unique offense around point-center Nikola Jokic. His court vision and ability to throw dimes in narrow lanes is uncanny for his size. Meanwhile, Rudy Gobert is the backbone of the Jazz defense, erasing countless mistakes from his teammates and scaring opponents out of the paint.
I fully expect both Jokic and Gobert to be named reserves to the All-Star game before the game starts. There is no denying their presence has led their teams to competing for the second seed in the tough Western Conference.
Should the Jazz and Nuggets end the season with a tied win-loss record, whoever has a better record in the division will win the tiebreaker for the higher seed of the two. I would go as far as saying this is the most important game the Jazz have played all season long.
Game Data
Broadcast Info
Tip-off: 8:30 PM on January 30 from Pepsi Center in Denver, CO
TV: TNT
Radio: The Zone Sports Network (97.5 FM and 1280 AM Salt Lake City)
Projected Starting Lineups
Utah Jazz Position Portland Trail-Blazers
Rudy Gobert C Nikola Jokic
Bojan Bogdanovic SF Will Barton
Donovan Mitchell PG Gary Harris
Injuries
For Utah, it was reported this afternoon that Mike Conley (injury management with right knee soreness) is OUT tonight. Tony Bradley is questionable with a right knee sprain.
As for the Nuggets, they’ve hit the motherload with injuries. Jamal Murray (ankle), Paul Millsap (left knee contusion), and Mason Plumlee (right foot) are all out for tonight’s game.
Prediction
Our friends over at The Action Network have the Nuggets listed as narrow 1.5 point favorites for the game tonight. Utah does have the disadvantage of playing a back-to-back, and not only that but it will be their third game in four nights.
Denver has the disadvantage of being shorthanded, but as we saw against the Rockets and Spurs this week, that hasn’t stopped the other team from winning. If Utah gets out to a slow start in the first half, it will be tough to get into a good rhythm against the Nuggets’ 11th ranked defense on their home floor.
I’m also not one to doubt Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, and with the All-Star reserves being announced a couple hours before the game, I think that will give them some confidence (if both selected) or motivation (if only one is selected) heading into tonight’s game. Combine that with the fact that this game will be critical for playoff seeding in the future, and I think the Jazz will find a way to win.
Jazz 108, Nuggets 104
Next. Ranking the five best All-Star moments in Utah Jazz history. dark
Discussion
You can always use the comment thread at the bottom of this page for some active game time chatter, or use the Twitter hashtag #UTAatDEN. Go Jazz!