Game 13 : Utah Jazz (8-4) @ Denver Nuggets (6-6) - 8:00PM

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[skywalker33]

I wouldn't call this a MUST win but it would help be a confidence builder for the Nuggets. Wonder if Murray steps up his rivalry with Mitchell ??

[Richard Miller]

Doubt Murray is in top shape, good to see Gary is back, he really would be missed in this matchup. They should just keep doing what they were doing the last few games and they should be fine.

[THE J0KER]

Home game - but no crowd.

The same opponent we beat in a playoff in August without Barton, Harris (in 5 games), and Green - but Porter and Grant will not play and Bogdanovic (+Favors) is back.

Mitchell is not even close that good this season so far like he used to be in the bubble - but Murray is in even much worse shape compared to the bubble.

So.. is Jazz favorites to win this game? Not exactly, it is a 50-50 game. The big difference in Nuggets favor compared to August-bubble is Jokic shape. He struggled in August right after COVID recovery while now playing like MVP. Jokic was 26-8-5 vs Utah in that epic PO series, I see at least more rebounds and assists today, while Gobert was 17ppg in offense which I don't see he will repeat. Also, our backcourt defense collapsed in the 2020 playoff against Mitchell-Conley-Clarkson is now much tougher with Harris, Barton, and Dozier.

If Nuggets wins, it will be clearly the best opponent we beat this season (Warriors are good, but D.Green is still out of shape while Wiseman still improving), especially because I expecting from Jazz to be extra motivated for revenge.

[NuggetsWY]

Hard to predict how the Nuggets will play.
Apparently, if we are going to win, Jokic will have to have another triple-double. The question is, can anyone else step up? Or even better, can we get 5-7 guys that score in double figures?

[THE J0KER]

Jokic+Murray 40-10-5
Gobert+Mitchell 5-7-5

But still just +5 on halftime thanks to Bogdanovic, Conley, and Clarkson all in double digits, while all other 8 Nuggets players which name is not Nikola nor Jamal scored combined just 18 points (only Campazzo more than 3).

This is the game in which Murray is once again bubble-Murray, so let's hope this will be the game in which stoped to underperform in the 3rd quarter.

[skywalker33]

Mitchell looking PEDESTRIAN tonight...and I OK with that. 24 1st half points for Jamal, maybe Donovan is having bad flashback

[skywalker33]

Harris, Millsap and Barton sucking the life out of this game, gotta wonder if trade rumors are effecting their games. Barton has to question his own statement about starting, he SUCKS this year as a starter !

[skywalker33]

Clarkson always seems to light us up, it was a good signing for them. We need more defense off the bench, really have always had problems with G's like him. Still early in the season, but clearly disappointing. Yet ANOTHER loss where MPJ's shooting could've made a difference.

[THE J0KER]

I was a little bit biased when I called this 50-50 game considering Denver played without 3rd best player while Utah's best 5+1 lineup was all-healthy but after the lead on halftime this was indeed a 50-50 game. Unfortunately, we lost another close game which becomes an issue this season, and another monster Jokic performance is wasted. In 1st half, Murray was also monstrous, a bubble-good, but in the 2nd he is back in the 2020-21 slump. I watched the 4th quarter of the TB-NO NFL game instead of the 3rd quarter of this game, so I missed the key part of the game in which Utah overturned the result, but Denver has enough chances to win it in 4th but fell.

A big 35+30 games from Jokic and Murray, but nobody else is not in double digits (6 players in Utah). Harris was great in 1st half defensively, but his 2-11 offense against another opponent which best player is not SG will hurt Nuggets more and more. The Nuggets best stat today are rebounds, they outrebounded one of the best rebounding team in NBA 52-39.

The key matchup for Jazz was a duel of two players who missed playoffs, Bogdanovic and Barton, and their guy won it 17-2. My biggest disappointment today was Green, I expected a much better game from him, while the best after Jokic-Murray duo surprisingly is Dozier with a decent two-way game. Mitchell and Gobert scored just 5 points in the first half but 28 in 2nd, which says that 1st half was not realistic, so we really need Porter against teams good like Jazz are.

Denver-s next week's games are against OKC, which should be a routine win, and two games in Phoenix, where is very important will Porter will play or not, Suns are a very good team this season.

[Richard Miller]

Murray only 6 in the second part though. There are no routine wins anymore, MPJ really can't come back soon enough.

[The Rebel]

Anybody else see the comments from Malone when asked about Campazzo not getting the ball at all? He said something to the effect of how this is not the Euro league and we have a lot of ball handlers that can make plays with the ball in their hands. I cannot be the only one that sees that the only time our offense runs half way defense with Jokic is off the court is when Murray/ Morris/ or Campazzo has the ball in their hands. Dozier, Barton, Harris, or none of the other guys should be trying to run our offense, as it looks like crap.

How have our role players suddenly forgotten how to do anything on the court? I cannot help but think it is because our offense is such a mess, nobody seems to have defined roles from play to play.

When is Malone going to learn that the 4 guard lineup does not work?

[NuggetsWY]

Our defense wasn't terrible - well, not for the whole game. It went in spurts, mostly around those 4 guard lineups that Malone seems to love. But that's just my eye-test.

Centers Jokic & Hartenstein played a combined 43 minutes (just 3 for Hartenstein)
PFs Millsap & Green played a combined 41 minutes
SFs - oops, we don't use those right now
Guards played a combined 156 minutes.

Remember also that Green is 6'8" and Millsap is 6'7"

Sitting on the bench and not playing?
7'2" Bol
7'0" Hartenstein (3 minutes)
6'9" Nnaji
6'8" Cancar

Is Malone trying to start a new trend of super small ball?

***

Utah is a solid defensive team and they indeed limited everyone by Jokic. If Murray wants star status, he can not allow other teams to shut him down for half a game (or more). He must assert himself.

Millsap didn't score much, but he had 9 rebounds and seemed fairly active on defense.

Barton only took six shots. Why? He certainly isn't on the team for defense!

Harris couldn't seem to hit his shots.

Our bench was ineffective to say the least. With three starters not scoring, it's not surprising we lost.

What do they say about people like Millsap, Barton, Harris? If you can't hit a jump shot, drive to the hoop and get a layup or some free throws. Did you look at that stat? Millsap had zero free throw attempts. Barton had zero free throw attempts. Harris had four free throw attempts. For the entire team, we only had fifteen free throw attempts!

We took 24 more field goal attempts because we had 23 offensive rebounds - but jump shooting isn't going to win games, at least not every game. Attacking the basket requires effort and hustle and movement - especially effective when Jokic has the ball. When he doesn't hit double figures in assists, it typically means the team was standing around waiting for him to do something magical.

Jokic's assists and Nuggets' free throw attempts - vital statistics in my opinion.

[Mickey8]

Its not Jokic fault his teammates have missed bunch of open shots, thus so many offensive rebounds this game, he should have had 15 assists minimum in this game. This team is just bad right now, it is losing home games, can't feed off the crowd anymore , there is no home court advantage, Malone as usual is doing a bad job, if Denver can't make the good trade , they should at least make coaching change , maybe that would help a bit, shock therapy.

[NuggetsWY]

Its not Jokic fault his teammates have missed bunch of open shots, thus so many offensive rebounds this game, he should have had 15 assists minimum in this game. This team is just bad right now, it is losing home games, can't feed off the crowd anymore , there is no home court advantage, Malone as usual is doing a bad job, if Denver can't make the good trade , they should at least make coaching change , maybe that would help a bit, shock therapy.

Do you think maybe we should change our offensive strategy? I do, but truthfully we are scoring enough to win.

So I am left with the conclusion that we need to change something about our defense - which, regardless of Malone's reputation, has never been great. In fact, I do believe we have been in the bottom-10 of most defensive categories since he has been here and in the bottom-5 of many of those categories.

[Mickey8]

I don't know, when the substitutes get in , they look lost most of the time on the court so far this season , maybe Jokic should spend some time on the court with them , maybe Malone should change substitution pattern, play Jokic 6,7 minutes in the quarter and let him start next quarter and let him play with them. Other players on the team have to produce also Porter being out hurts a lot, but thats his fault tough .

[skywalker33]

I don't know, when the substitutes get in , they look lost most of the time on the court so far this season , maybe Jokic should spend some time on the court with them , maybe Malone should change substitution pattern, play Jokic 6,7 minutes in the quarter and let him start next quarter and let him play with them. Other players on the team have to produce also Porter being out hurts a lot, but thats his fault tough .

Well, Joker does need time to rest, we can't play him as much as we are right now, he'll be burned out by the time playoffs hit. Agreed, Malone SHOULD change his substitution pattern, he plays that 4-guard disaster lineup too much IMO. MPJ's absense also affects the bench rotation, will be glad to see him get back. Heard Joker loves playing with JaMychel, wouldn't mind seeing that combo getting more mins together, perhaps even starting together with PM coming off the bench, although that may seem a bit disrespectful.

[NuggetsWY]

I don't know, when the substitutes get in , they look lost most of the time on the court so far this season , maybe Jokic should spend some time on the court with them , maybe Malone should change substitution pattern, play Jokic 6,7 minutes in the quarter and let him start next quarter and let him play with them. Other players on the team have to produce also Porter being out hurts a lot, but thats his fault tough .

"His fault" - lots of people have said that. This is not directed at just you.

When someone gets covid, it is definitely not their fault. You can remain isolated in your home and still get covid. It could be someone that brought your groceries or a food delivery or an Amazon/mail/delivery service of any kind - even if they leave it on the door step. A virus can live for at least a couple of hours on many surfaces.

Even if you wear a mask everywhere you go, you can get covid. You do realize that if air can be breathed through the mask, the virus can slip through also. That means their mask and yours. Yes, masks help, but they are not an absolute preventative.

I am prone to infections. The VA checks me every month. I pretty much stay home and have not been to a major store in more than a year. I have not gotten covid - yet. My daughter and son-in-law do all of the shopping. Oops, that means they are potentially exposed and even if they never acquire covid, they could still pass it on to me.

Getting covid is not someone's fault. Until covid, we never heard people saying "it's your fault you got a cold or the flu" - at least not often. Covid is just an extremely dangerous strain of flu. Let's stop blaming people for getting covid. And let's understand that everyone recovers at a different pace.

[THE J0KER]

I remember few times at beginning of the season and preseason MPJ's father was in the reduced crowd. My Porter-COVID speculation is that his father with which he is obviously in contact gets positive tests first which is the reason for the first quarantine protocol for MPJ and because his test is negative no other Nuggets player was involved. A week later when Porter should be cleared to play with another negative test, that test was positive, and that is the reason why in the day that day before was announced that he will back on the roster they announced a new (this time a minimum of 10 days) quarantine. That is just my theory based on how NBA protocols (and virus himself) works. That approved MPJ contact which permanently tests too who was first tested positive instead of his father can be his girlfriend or personal trainer. In all these cases it is not Porter's fault for sure. We can *blame* him only if that initial reason why NBA him put into quarantine 1st time despite he was still negative is his eventual COVID-risky behaviour (if he visited some no-mask crowded party, disco club, public gym... etc...).

[skywalker33]

I remember few times at beginning of the season and preseason MPJ's father was in the reduced crowd. My Porter-COVID speculation is that his father with which he is obviously in contact gets positive tests first which is the reason for the first quarantine protocol for MPJ and because his test is negative no other Nuggets player was involved. A week later when Porter should be cleared to play with another negative test, that test was positive, and that is the reason why in the day that day before was announced that he will back on the roster they announced a new (this time a minimum of 10 days) quarantine. That is just my theory based on how NBA protocols (and virus himself) works. That approved MPJ contact which permanently tests too who was first tested positive instead of his father can be his girlfriend or personal trainer. In all these cases it is not Porter's fault for sure. We can *blame* him only if that initial reason why NBA him put into quarantine 1st time despite he was still negative is his eventual COVID-risky behaviour (if he visited some no-mask crowded party, disco club, public gym... etc...).

Regardless HOW he got it, he and the team are being penalized for getting it. Can't say I've heard anyone being quarantined this long, but I know first-hand how contagious this crap is.

My question for our own The Joker, .....Do they STILL have Disco Clubs where you're from ??? an, you are dating yourself with that one, my Brother !!