Time To Blow Up The Denver Nuggets

Okay that may be a little much, but in what possibly was the biggest game of the season the Denver Nuggets completely disappeared. Not only were the Nuggets embarrassed on national television, they dropped from sixth in the West to ninth and are currently outside of the playoffs with six games left on the road trip.

Utah Jazz big man Al Jefferson, who has one of the best footwork in the NBA, led Utah’s dominating post game with 23 points. Combined the Jazz big men had 51 points and as a team the Jazz had 64 points in the paint.

On the Nuggets side, arguably their best player Ty Lawson had one of his worst games at the worst possible time. Lawson scored only five points on 2 of 8 shootings and had six turnovers. Lawson’s backcourt mate, Arron Afflalo, had an early exit after being ejected for elbowing Gordon Hayward. Afflalo left the game with 14 points.

The Nuggets defense was once again lacking, but it was the third quarter that completely took Denver out of the game. Utah outscored Denver 27-10 to push the lead to 91-64.

• Al Harrington scored 20 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and hitting three treys. His outside shooting is very valuable for the Nuggets right now – especially with the lack of shooters on the team.
• Javale McGee may have been the Nuggets best player. He was an anchor on defense, blocking two shots, but also scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds. McGee did struggle with foul trouble, but was the only big man on roster that made an impact on defense.