The Nuggets came into Utah hoping that they would make headway in the Western Conference playoff race and Utah is working their way into 8th place in the West. They came into the game 4 games behind Utah so they need all of the head-to-head wins that they can get. Utah came into the game holding the 9th seed in the West, only a half game behind the Portland Trailblazers.
Their inability to close against the Jazz put a damper on their playoff hopes a little bit. They lost a heart breaker 85-81. They only scored 35 points in the second half and none of the players could buy a shot from the field in the second half.
This was a low scoring battle as neither team was able to top 25 points in a single quarter. Free throws were able to keep the Nuggets in the game even though they only shot 37% from the field. The Jazz did not crack double digit free throw attempts until late in the fourth quarter, but it didn't matter as they got to the line 12 times in the quarter. It also helped that they shot 8 percentage points higher from the field.
Nikola Jokic was limited in this game because he was battling a sore left shoulder. He struggled in the first half and failed to score a single point in the first half, but he settled into rhythm and redeemed himself in the second half with 8 points. I hope they let him get fully healthy. The team should not expect him to be as effective when battling a nagging injury. The All-Star break is coming up so he should be able to get some more rest then.
Gary Harris, Will Barton and Gallo played some good defense on Gordon Hayward. He only had 2 points the entire first half and he finished with only 16 after recovering a little in the second half. The defense on him was a major reason why they had such a great first half as a team.
Gallo was really the only player on the Nuggets to do much of anything on the offensive side of the ball and even he only shot 5-15 from the field. He was able to get to the line 14 times, which helped the team when they were going through cold spells from the field. He needs to have another scoring option on this team. When Jokic is going, he can be that guy, but he was hurt coming into the game and was ineffective for the first half. If Gallo had another option to defer to, he would become a much more efficient player.
The team falling apart in the second half is not a good sign for the remainder of the season. They should have put away this game in the third quarter, but they let the Jazz hang around and eventually the rest of the game got away from them. The Bulls are coming into town Friday night and the Nuggets will be looking for redemption after the way that this game ended. As I said, they can't lose more than three games before the All-Star break and still expect to contend for a playoff spot. They don't need to beat the Bulls in order to reach that goal, but it would certainly be helpful.
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