Game 61: Utah Jazz (34-26) @ Denver Nuggets (42-18) - 10:30 PM ET

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[skywalker33]

Another tough game here but without Rubio and Exum playing for the Jazz, feel like we got this.

[NuggetsWY]

Another tough game here but without Rubio and Exum playing for the Jazz, feel like we got this.

Latest news is that Neto is out too!

Ingles will have the ball in his hands a lot & so will Mitchell - they've faced this earlier this year and did fairly well.

Gobert is a difficult matchup for Jokic simply because of his length. Jokic might need to spend more time away from the basket, but I think he can adjust. The real key for Denver is going to be limiting Mitchell's offense. He's a fair 3 pt shooter and if he gets hot, he can be hard to stop, but he's best at driving - so if the Nuggets can stay in front of him and not let him find easy paths to the basket, things should work out nice.

[Sgt Major]

Jokic had like 28/12/6 last time, no reason not to repeat such a game.

[THE J0KER]

Grab that #1 spot Nuggets! I guess it will be for the first time ever in franchise history to go into March as WC#1!

[Yuri Vaultin]

My favorite part of Barton's game is when he isn't on the floor.

Sure the guy might be able to create but my God, if the Nuggets roster was a gorgeous model's face; Barton would be an enormous pulsating and oozing herpes sore right on the kisser, ruining it all.

[THE J0KER]

Only 37 points in the entire half, only 15 in a quarter!? After opening 10 minutes we lead 18-12, but then Malone ruined everything with bizarre 4-guards strategy, so the rest of the half Jazz killing us 40-19. When Lyles and Juancho are out, Jokic, Millsap, and Plumlee playing time must be increased, not reduced! Small-ball is a legit strategy in many cases, but dwarf-ball lineup IT-Morris-Craig-Harris-Millsap has sense only in garbage time.

My favorite part of Barton's game is when he isn't on the floor.

Sure the guy might be able to create but my God, if the Nuggets roster was a gorgeous model's face; Barton would be an enormous pulsating and oozing herpes sore right on the kisser, ruining it all.

I supported Malone to put Barton in starting lineups after comeback because I was thinking it is only because of trade-deadline purposes to recover his trade value. But there are no rumors that FO tried anything with him, and he is still starter despite it is so obvious he is currently worst fit to Jokic-system game-style, and which is worse, he is in bad shape. And even more ridiculous is fact that our backup rotation has big height problems lately with Lyles and Juancho not playing, but Harris is chosen to be on the bench instead of two inches taller Barton!?

[skywalker33]

Well, lesson to be learned, ya can't come out flat and expect to win. Seems like a pattern, especially against UTH 2nd loss in a row to the Jazz

[Manolito]

And that's why it is so important finishing 2nd and not 3rd.

I also don't understand this small lineup. Juancho or Craig are no PF, Plumlee should have 30minutes if Lyles is not playing

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[THE J0KER]

And that's why it is so important finishing 2nd and not 3rd.

I also don't understand this small lineup. Juancho or Craig are no PF, Plumlee should have 30minutes if Lyles is not playing

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Juancho can play PF... rotation which loses this game at the start of the 2nd quarter has two shouting guards Harris and Craig acting as PF, with two point guards IT and Morris as backcourt line.

[Lala870]

Murray... terrible game. I haven't been watching Denver games a ton this year but this loss reminded me of when they got smacked around by Detroit. Not sure I have confidence in the core of jokic/murray/harris long term. Not every team has a gobert but this was a lame showing.

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[THE J0KER]

The first half with just 37 points scored and -15 deficit was a disaster. In the 2nd half, Denver scored 67 points and was one possession close in final two minutes, but our famous draft picks Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert prevented a spectacular comeback. I think the key moment was 8 and a half minutes before the end when at 79-84 Malone should put Jokic into the game which is benched most of the 3rd quarter due to foul troubles. Just a minute later Jokic comes, but the result was already 79-91 after Utah fast 7-0 run (that key run was actually 13-0 in just two minutes with +18 lead in Utah favor). Denver managed to back once again from -18 to -3 in the 4th, but it is too late.

There are several details which cost us in this loss. For example Murray/Millsap 2-8 from FT (I guess it is for Murray career first case ever to miss three free throws in the row). Of course, when Denver loses some "must win" game all eyes are in Joker, and he was really bad tonight for his MVP standards. 16-13-7 is not bad numbers, and Jokic has team-highest +2 stats in the +/- column, but his famous efficiency was very damaged today with poor 5-15 shooting and 5 turnovers, and this time is not Malone to be blamed why Jokic played only 31 minutes but Nikola silly fouls.

Will Barton technically have a monster game with 21-13-3 numbers, but in reality, when we lose this game, in the 1st half, he was our worst player. Also, when he has a really great episode in the 3rd quarter it happens when Jokic is on the bench, which once again proves he should play much more minutes with the 2nd unit and Harris with the 1st. And his most impressive stat is 13 rebounds, but a couple of his defensive rebounds are really unnecessary risky, and not only for him but for Millsap/Jokic/Plumlee also which was in a natural position to grab these balls. I know Barton not doing it for a better stats but he tried to energize the team with some fanatical efforts, but we don't need such risk. If Malone doesn't want to switch Barton and Harris in starting lineup, he should at least switch Harris and Beasley, and put Malik on backup rotation, because Barton ability to make Beasley invisible are amazing.

But more than Barton problem is a big man playing time minutes. If Malone wants to blacklist Lyles and Juancho, two of Jokic/Millsap/Plumlee must be every second on the floor, except during garbage time.

[RRFB]

Really tough loss. I'd like to avoid Utah in the first round if possible. Gobert is a monster and they play some great team defense, but it also feels like it's been a very long time since the Nuggets have shot the ball well for four full quarters.

I didn't love the way Malone handled the bench rotations. That IT/Monte/Harris/Craig/Plumlee lineup was really bad. IT has been a pretty big negative no matter who he's played with the last few games and his presence has really thrown Monte off his game. I hope they go back to the original starting lineup on Saturday. Those guys need to get used to playing together again and Malone needs to nail down his rotations so they can get into some sort of rhythm before the playoffs come.

[NuggetsWY]

Lack of motion on offense & defense - lack of hustle and when they finally drew to just 3 points down with one minute to go, but we finished poorly.

Jokic's tendency to take silly fouls hurt again. He doesn't get into trouble too often, but in the playoffs, one game with a couple of silly fouls can cost us the series. 32 minutes with 16 points on weak shooting but 13 rebounds with 7 assists - not a terrible game. The loss was not on Jokic, although a few more minutes from him might have made a difference.

Barton had a monster game statistically but the eye test found his defense spotty and his offense mostly one-on-one plays. I surely wish he'd stop trying to dribble behind his back and pass behind his back. The average YMCA player is his equal in "behind the back" plays.

Murray had a nice game with 8-16 FG (after a weak 1st half), but it sure seemed like he was missing for too much of the game.

Plumlee had 11 points with 9 rebounds & Millsap had 15 points and 5 rebounds - not great, but not enough.

Harris had a rough game on offense and we needed him.
Beasley had a weak game on offense and we needed him (he did have 2 blocks).
Morris had a terrible game on offense and we needed him.
Thomas had a weak game on offense and we needed him.

We out-rebounded Utah by 11 boards.
We took 15 more FG shots but they took 9 more FTs.
Worst stat was 3pts with Utah 16-43 which isn't great % but a lot of shots, meanwhile we only shot 7-25 from three point range. Barton, Millsap, Murray shot 50% from three - nobody else hit a three for us.

[eathb_au]

This team refusing to learn and playing every team except for Golden State exactly the same way is driving me nuts.

How the **** do you let a non 3 point shooting team go off like that. Seems to be a huge lack of respect tonight. Also every all star center have had their way with Gobert scoring easily on him, yet Jokic struggles again. Dude needs to work on some new offensive scoring weapons next season, it can't be bully ball in the post or nothing.

[U hova]

That second quarter was brutal. Something had to be done. Nothing was done.

[U hova]

Jokic's tendency to take silly fouls hurt again. He doesn't get into trouble too often, but in the playoffs, one game with a couple of silly fouls can cost us the series. 32 minutes with 16 points on weak shooting but 13 rebounds with 7 assists - not a terrible game. The loss was not on Jokic, although a few more minutes from him might have made a difference.

Barton had a monster game statistically but the eye test found his defense spotty and his offense mostly one-on-one plays. I surely wish he'd stop trying to dribble behind his back and pass behind his back. The average YMCA player is his equal in "behind the back" plays.

I couldn't agree more with these 2 points. Jokic played like a completely different person with how lazy he looked on offense and then the frustration fouls (his 4th or 5th foul he outright grabbed Gobert on the drive and was asking for it) did not help at all... and it was clear that we missed him too much with how we bounced back when he was in.

Barton let Grayson Allen blow by him. It can't be stated enough how much Barton's tunnel vision/ hesitation after catching the ball hurts the team.

Frustrating loss.

[The Rebel]

I knew this was a loss as soon as Golden State lost last night, just like when we were in 1st in January and suddenly could not get a call, same thing happened last night. Especially in the 1st half when touch fouls were called on the Nuggets while Gobert, Crowder, and Favors were called for a total of 1 foul while Millsap was on the ground multiple times.

That being said the lack of effort was concerning, we had won 5 in a row and were bound to have an off night sooner or later but the lack of effort especially off the ball was crazy. It seemed like the only ones that came to play were Jokic and Murray, and then when the calls went against him Jokic just shut down as well.

I do not get the Murray complaints in this thread, yes he had a couple of bad plays but he was also the one that kept us in it early in the 1st quarter and had an all around solid game.

Personally I think it is time to put Harris and Juancho back into the starting lineup, let Harris play his game, and let Juancho do the things he can actually do well, and let Barton come off the bench with IT rotting on it.

[Lala870]

Donavan Mitchell took the game over late while Murray missed clutch shots and free throws. Denver will not have success in the playoffs with that kind of guard play.

Utah got themselves the real deal in Mitchell.

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[Powder Blue]

Lotta overreaction in here after that loss. It's not like we were going to win every game down the stretch.

Clearly the 2nd quarter was a mess...and IT had the ball in his hands most of the time. Judging by Malone's comments after the game I don't think he'll let that happen again. The bench lineup has to be tweaked headed into the playoffs.