DENVER — The Jazz limped into Ball Arena Saturday night a hurting unit, with injuries to key players and stinging from a 118-108 home loss to Minnesota on Friday night.
“Those teams scare me,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “This game will test our maturity.”
And Denver’s frequent matador defense. Olé!
Sure enough, the Jazz pushed the Nuggets to the limit before Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic — Denver’s two veterans — carried the Nuggets to a 115-110 victory.
Jokic pulled off a triple-double — 31 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists — and his perfect feed to Bruce Brown for a slam with 1:19 left was the key bucket of the game. It was Jokic’s fourth triple-double of the season and the 80th of his career.
Murray, who scored 30 points, drained two free throws at the end to clinch the victory.
Malone, who worked the game with an injured back that forced him into the locker room during the first quarter, had good reason to be nervous.
Utah played without guards Mike Conley, Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson, as well as forward Lauri Markkanen, but five Jazz players scored in double figures, led by Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s 27 points.
Although Denver threatened to put Utah in its rearview mirror throughout the game, the Nuggets’ lead was just 92-90 at the end of three quarters. And the Jazz led 105-104 with 4:53 left when Alexander-Walker drained a free throw.
Thursday night, Murray sank a game-winning 3-pointer in Denver’s 121-120 win at Portland, scoring 14 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. Was he up for an encore?
Absolutely, he shot 13 of 19 from the field and dished out five assists.
Murray and Jokic keyed a 10-2 run in the final two minutes of the first half to extend Denver’s lead to 61-52.
