Rebuilding Jazz set for stiff test vs. Nuggets in Denver
The Utah Jazz followed two strong victories with a pair of tough losses, and now they face an unhappy Nuggets team in Denver on Monday night.
Utah beat Memphis and Dallas but then fell to the Los Angeles Lakers last Thursday and then Orlando in overtime on Saturday. The Magic hit a layup with less than a second left to win it, but Jazz coach Will Hardy was encouraged by the effort despite both losses coming at home in Salt Lake City.
"This is the part I hope our fans appreciate about our group ... it is actually a team," Hardy said after the loss. "Each night there can be different people in the closing lineup ... it's a team that's easy to root for."
Utah is led by Lauri Markkanen, who is averaging 27.8 points a game this season, but he has missed the last two contests and is questionable for Monday's matchup because of a groin injury. Keyonte George is second on the team with a 24-point average and Walker Kessler is third (14.4) and leads Utah in rebounding average at 10.8 per game.
Utah is striving to get back to the postseason for the first time since 2021-22 when it lost to the Mavericks in the first round. It won't be easy in the competitive Western Conference -- where the Jazz are currently 12th -- but after finishing last in the West at 17-65 a season ago, they are more than halfway to that win total with 10 after 27 games.
This is the first of four games between the Northwest Division rivals, and they don't play again until March 2 in Utah. The Nuggets swept the four-game series last season, winning every game by double digits. Denver has won six straight over the Jazz and seven of the last eight dating back to the 2023-24 season.
The Nuggets have been more vulnerable than usual at home this season, going 8-5 and dropping five of their last seven there. The latest was Saturday afternoon against Houston when the Rockets hit 19 3-pointers on the way to a 115-101 win.
Hunter Tyson's layup with 11.9 seconds left kept alive Denver's streak of scoring 100 points or more in every game this season.
The Nuggets are in the top three in the Western Conference despite not having three key players available. Christian Braun (left ankle) has been out since Nov. 12, Aaron Gordon (hamstring) has not played since Nov. 21 and Peyton Watson (right trunk injury) has missed the last two games.
Watson is the only one who may play Monday night as Braun and Gordon are likely out until the end of the month or beginning of January.
Denver still has Nikola Jokic, who leads the team in scoring (29.4 points per game), rebounding (12.1) and assists (10.7), with the latter two leading the NBA. Jamal Murray is second on the Nuggets in scoring with a career-best 24.8 points a game.
Jokic fouled out of Denver's 128-125 overtime win against Houston on Dec. 15 and was in foul trouble again on Saturday. The three-time MVP has played a physical brand of basketball throughout his career and prefers that style.
"I like to play with contact," he said. "It's good, it's a lot of bumping and pushing. It's kind of nice."