After what felt like a lengthy offseason, the Denver Nuggets finally played their first preseason game in Boulder against the Utah Jazz. It was a 109-97 loss, but there were some big bright spots, like Nikola Jokic's behind-the-back, across-the-court pass behind three Jazz defenders, perhaps one of the greatest passes Jokic has ever thrown. But unfortunately, the Nuggets' defense still looked bad and has a lot more work to do before the season officially tips off on October 22nd against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
First, the bright spots on defense. Of course, it's Alpha Diallo, the 29-year-old rookie making his NBA debut. The defensive specialist, who won last season's EuroLeague Best Defender Award while playing in Europe, was a standout on the defensive side of the ball. He showed his elite point-of-attack defense by wreaking havoc on the Jazz as they tried to bring the ball up the court. And he even forced an 8-second backcourt violation turnover, which got everyone fired up.
And Nuggets rookie Trevon Brazile, the first player off the bench to spell Aaron Gordon at the four, had two blocks, including one athletic play that stopped Ace Bailey cold on a driving dunk attempt. He could provide some solid rim protection this season. But that's about where the Nuggets' bright spots on defense ended.
The Nuggets still allowed too many easy buckets
At least it's the preseason, and the Nuggets still have a couple of weeks to iron out the wrinkles, because they've got their hands full. While it wasn't so much of a layup fest like we saw a lot last season, the Nuggets didn't pressure the Jazz enough and only forced 10 turnovers, 8 of which aren't included in the positives section above. That's just about on pace with last year, unfortunately. The Nuggets were 30th, dead last, in turnovers forced in 2025-26 at 11.8 per game.
They've got a long way to go. The Jazz were able to penetrate into the mid-range and kick out for open threes plenty of times. Unfortunately, the starters were the main culprits of the poor defense. Jokic was -13, as was Christian Braun, and no member of the starting five finished with a positive plus/minus.
That's going to have to change for the better. The lack of getting stops, even in the first tune-up, wasn't what fans had in mind after hearing about making defense and physicality a priority by head coach David Adelman in the run-up to the game.
But at least the non-Jokic minutes looked good, and Diallo lived up to his hype. The Nuggets will look to right the ship soon as they take on the Jazz again on Oct. 6th.
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