Wednesday’s matchup at Vivint Smart Home Arena between the Jazz and Nuggets had a playoff-type atmosphere to it.
Back-and-forth buckets. Heightened intensity. Even an altercation resulting in multiple ejections and several more technicals.
In the end, the Jazz capitalized on a franchise-record 13 made 3-pointers in the first half, beating back every Denver rally with another make from deep en route to a 114-108 win over the team with the second-best record in the Western Conference.
The game started off fast for Utah.
Joe Ingles showed no hesitation in firing up — and burying — a 3. Ricky Rubio, back in the starting lineup in his second game back from a hamstring injury, hit a reverse layup-and-one. Then he faked a pass to Derrick Favors to get Denver’s defense leaning, before dishing it to Rudy Gobert cutting in from the other side for an 8-0 advantage.
Everyone knew it wouldn’t be that easy, however. And indeed, before the quarter was up, things got intense.
At the 2:46 mark, Jae Crowder was whistled for a foul on Nuggets reserve big man Mason Plumlee. Plumlee and Favors then came together, exchanged words, and a physical confrontation ensued under the basket in front of Denver’s bench.
When the dust settled and the review was completed, both Favors and Plumlee were ejected, and both Royce O’Neale and Will Barton were assessed technicals.
Denver’s star big man, Nikola Jokic, appeared to leave the bench during the scrum, but was not penalized.
The Nuggets appeared to gain some momentum after the scrum. They closed to within 30-24 by the end of the first quarter, then began the second on a 7-0 run to take the lead.
That’s when the Jazz took their 3-point proficiency to another level.
After making five in the first quarter, Utah wound up making eight in the second.
Ingles and Kyle Korver, the Jazz’s so-called Splash Uncles, each nailed a trio of 3s in the half. Meanwhile, Donovan Mitchell caught fire. After scoring just two points on 1-for-3 shooting in the opening 12 minutes, he drained 4 of 5 from deep in the next period, and was up to 16 points by the break.
But then, the Jazz couldn’t quite break the game open, despite Denver accumulating just a trio of 3s itself.
Then again, the Nuggets didn’t really need the deep shots, the way Jokic — who came into the game averaging 7.7 assists per game — was locating open teammates. Every time an ill-advised double-team came his way, he found somebody, and the Nuggets racked up 36 points in the paint.
After that, it became a pair of brawlers trading haymakers — figuratively speaking of course.
The Jazz steadily expanded their lead to as many as 15 points. But with Mitchell and Gobert on the bench, the Nuggets clawed their way back to within single digits.
By early in the fourth, Utah’s lead was down to four. And coach Quin Snyder had seen enough — sending his star duo back in.
They had their intended impact.
The big man slowed Denver’s forays to the rim, and made Jokic work in the paint.
Mitchell, meanwhile, went crazy on offense, utilizing the high pick-and-roll, draining another pair from deep — the second of which bounced three times on the rim before dropping through the cylinder — and before the Nuggets knew what had happened, Mitchell was up to 31 points, and the Jazz lead was back up to a dozen.
Mitchell wound up with 35 points, six assists and six rebounds. Gobert finished with 15 points, 11 boards and three blocks.
Rubio totaled 17 points and six assists in just under 20 minutes.
Ingles had 14 points and eight assists. Crowder scored 15 off the bench.
Jokic, meanwhile kept Denver in it — he finished with 28 points, 21 rebounds, and six assists — as Denver again rallied to win four points with a minute and a half left.
And the Jazz responded with big play after big play.
A Crowder 3. Forcing a five-second inbound violation. Crowder rotating over to stop Jokic, Gobert rotating over to make Torrey Craig hesitate on his shot, then Mitchell swooping in from behind to swat it away.
from The Salt Lake Tribune http://bit.ly/2Dus1dY
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