Denver Nuggets vs. Utah Jazz: Main takeaways

Denver Nuggets fall in close contest.

The Denver Nuggets fought honorably in a tough road game, but eventually fell to Utah 114 to 108.

That brings Denver’s record over the last ten games to 6 and 4 – just a game above .500. Over the ten games before that, the Denver Nuggets were 8 and 2. Nevertheless, on a brighter note the Denver Nuggets have created a fair amount of space between them and the 3rd spot.

Below, we take a closer look at the Denver Nuggets latest performance. With the aim of clarifying any problems Denver may be having and by extension, the solutions too.

The Team With The Better Defense Won

Currently, the Denver Nuggets are ranked 13th in defensive efficiency, whilst Utah are 4th.
To provide a little further insight.

The Denver Nuggets are 3rd in the NBA in offensive efficiency whilst the Jazz are 20th.

The biggest stat line from the night is that the Jazz scored 19 of 46 3’s (good for 41.3%).

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Considering that last night’s game was lost by just 6 points, it easy to see how better perimeter defense (like their game against Houston) could easily have led to a different result.

A fair amount of those were by design, as Denver struggled with the screens set by the Utah Jazz. Unfortunately, the Nuggets also gave up a lot of open 3’s too.

Kyle Korver who finished with nine points was just one player to benefit from the holes in the Nuggets’ perimeter defense.

In addition, Donovan Mitchell with 35 points clearly did a lot of damage. Once again the Nuggets have to get better at taking a way the opposing teams favorite weapons.

Stopping Mitchell is extremely hard to do especially when he plays like the player some had winning the rookie of the year award last year.

However, one thing Denver must do is slow him down. What should have been a lot better was the Nuggets’ help defense whenever Mitchell attacked the basket.

Expecting one player to stop any explosive and/or elite opposing player is normally a costly mistake. Last night was further proof of this.

Denver’s 3 Point Shooting

The Nuggets shot 8 of 27 from 3 (29.6%) last night. The only players to shoot well from deep were Will Barton, Monte Morris (2 of 2) and Jamal Murray (1 of 2).

Will shot a blistering 80% (4 of 5) from 3 which is a great sign for the Denver Nuggets going forward.

However, Millsap (0 of 3), Torrey (0 of 2), Jokic (1 of 7), Harris (0 of 2), Lyles (0 of 4) all struggled from deep. In addition to this, apart from poor shooting, the Denver Nuggets (27) also got off less 3 point shots than the Jazz (46).

All of this provides extra proof that last night’s game was lost on defensive end. Plainly put, with Denver being off from from 3, their defense was the best shot (no pun intended) at winning the game.

The Nuggets’ defense, since the start of the season has had Denver at or near the top of the Western Conference. However, the Nuggets recently slipped from the NBA’s 12th most efficient defense to its 13th.

In order for the Denver Nuggets to close out the 2nd half of the season strong, they will need to play at a high level on both sides of the floor.

I think Denver would agree.