Nuggets-Jazz Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Mar 23 2012 2:22AM

The Denver Nuggets are currently in playoff position in the tightly-packed Western Conference, though the Utah Jazz are closing in quickly.

Utah seeks its sixth straight victory Friday night when it hosts Denver, which begins a season-high seven-game road trip.

The Jazz (25-22) won their season-best fifth consecutive game Thursday, 103-102 at Sacramento after Al Jefferson scored on a putback of a Devin Harris miss with less than a second remaining.

Jefferson finished with a game-high 26 points for Utah, which sits in ninth place in the West but can create a three-way tie with Denver and Houston for the final two playoff spots with a win Friday.

Coach Tyrone Corbin may not have been pleased his team blew a 14-point second-half lead, but any type of victory given the Jazz's situation will do for him.

"We are in a playoff hunt ... so this win was nice for us," Corbin said. "We're fighting and scratching and doing whatever it takes to win."

Utah is also seeking to win seven in a row at home for the first time since a 10-game run Feb. 24-April 6, 2010. To achieve that, the Jazz will need to slow Denver (26-21), which is coming off a dramatic victory of its own.

The Nuggets concluded a 5-4 homestand Wednesday by beating Detroit 116-115 on JaVale McGee's follow-up dunk with five seconds remaining.

McGee finished with 15 points in his Nuggets debut after being acquired from Washington at the trade deadline, and Ty Lawson scored a team-high 25. Now, the Nuggets take to the road, where they are averaging a league-high 105.8 points.

"Personally, I'm a road-type player," Lawson told the team's official website. "I like hearing boos and stuff like that. I'm ready for it, especially going to Utah and Chicago (on Monday) and places that have rowdy crowds. I love it."

Lawson also recognizes the importance of Friday's matchup.

"It's going to be a big game," he said. "Both teams know it's a big game. We need to get this win. We're going to be ready for it."

After the lengthy homestand, the Nuggets will be living out of suitcases until April 6, when they return to Colorado to host Phoenix. They haven't played away from home since sweeping a two-game Texas trip by beating Houston and San Antonio on March 2 and 4.

"I saw this road trip and said we're going to have to win three or four of those games," coach George Karl said. "To get in a good April position, we have to win three or four of these."

These teams split their two previous meetings this season, both in Denver. Lawson scored 15 points in the Nuggets' 117-100 victory Dec. 28, but Paul Millsap had 26 points and 12 rebounds to help the Jazz win the Jan. 15 rematch 106-96.

The Nuggets learned Thursday that backup guard Rudy Fernandez will have surgery to repair a nagging lower back injury that may sideline him for the rest of the season. The former Portland Trail Blazer has averaged 8.6 points while appearing in 31 games in his first season in Denver.

Jazz easily beat Nuggets for 6th straight win

Posted Mar 24 2012 2:33AM

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Returning to the NBA playoffs is starting to become a more realistic goal for the Utah Jazz as they pile up one win after another.

Al Jefferson had 23 points and eight rebounds, Gordon Hayward chipped in 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and the Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets 121-102 on Friday night.

All five starters reached double figures as the Jazz (26-22) notched their sixth straight win. Paul Millsap had 14 points and C.J. Miles scored 12. Devin Harris added 13 points and nine assists for Utah.

Utah vaulted into seventh place in the Western Conference standings. The Jazz are just a half-game behind the Memphis Grizzlies, the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers for fourth place.

Alec Burks led a strong bench contribution with 15 points. Derrick Favors chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds.

It represented a strong all-around effort for the Jazz, who were coming off a dramatic road victory over the Sacramento Kings a night earlier.

"I just thought we played great defense," Jefferson said. "We rebounded and we got out and ran. Guys were hitting shots. We played inside-out basketball. The most important thing was the defense."

Al Harrington scored 20 points off the bench for Denver (26-22), while Arron Afflalo added 14 points before a third-quarter ejection. Kenneth Faried added 16 points, Andre Miller chipped in 14 and Wilson Chandler had 13 for the Nuggets.

The Jazz had their way on offense, outmuscling the Nuggets around the basket. Utah had 64 points in the paint and outrebounded the Nuggets 34-29. The Jazz also shot a blistering 59 percent from the field and 47 percent from 3-point range.

"I just don't think our defensive dimension had any integrity to it," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "We played well offensively. I thought we were going to have a good offensive game. We just never made enough stops or gave our defense any help with some defensive possessions."

Dominating on both ends of the court helped the Jazz break open a close game early in the third quarter. Millsap drained two consecutive baskets to touch off a 22-3 run that gave the Jazz a 91-64 lead with 2:36 left in the third. He also capped the decisive spurt with a layup.

Utah completely stifled the Nuggets defensively during their run. Denver missed eight straight shots, with Miles getting two blocks. The Nuggets melted down mentally in that stretch and lost starting shooting guard Afflalo to an ejection after he threw an elbow into Hayward's face and was called for a flagrant foul.

"It was a bad play on my part," said Afflalo, who faces a one-game suspension for his actions. "I just kind of got frustrated with the game a little bit and tried to battle a few possessions here and there."

Both teams did a good job of getting to the rim early in the first quarter. Four of the first five baskets in the game were dunks. By the end of the quarter, the Jazz had scored 16 points in the paint while the Nuggets tallied 14.

They continued to trade baskets well into the second quarter. Denver appeared to finally gain the upper hand with a 10-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Harrington, for a 48-43 lead. The Jazz ripped off 10 straight points and took a 53-48 lead on a floater from Jefferson with 3:41 left before halftime.

It was part of a larger 20-4 run that gave the Jazz a 63-52 lead with under a minute remaining. Harris capped the run with a pair of 3-pointers that helped Utah go into the locker room shooting 62 percent through the first two quarters.

Once Utah got out in front, the Jazz did not let up.

"That's the best part about tonight - we didn't let them stick around," Hayward said. "We came out in the second half and just kind of took it at them."

Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin praised his team for showing mental toughness and playing unselfishly for 48 minutes. Corbin pointed to the team's 32 assists on 48 baskets as evidence that his players were playing the right way.

"You want to attack the basket with these guys," Corbin said. "They want you to get into a jump shooting contest with them and that's not who we are."

NOTES: Josh Howard underwent surgery on his left knee and will spend one week on crutches before being re-evaluated. Howard averaged 8.7 points and 3.7 rebounds for Utah before being sidelined. . Harris tied his season high with nine assists and Hayward tied his career high with three blocks.

Notebook: Jazz 121, Nuggets 102

Posted Saturday March 24, 2012 2:20AM

By Andrew Aragon, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: In front of a national television audience, the Utah Jazz looked more than ready for prime time.

Al Jefferson had 23 points and eight rebounds as the Jazz dominated the Denver Nuggets 121-102 on Friday night. It was Utah's sixth straight victory, and the win moved them into a three-way tie for seventh place in the Western Conference standings with Denver and the Houston Rockets.

It was a solid team effort for Utah, which had seven players score in double figures. Gordon Hayward had 15 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots, and rookie Alec Burks had 15 points.

Al Harrington came off the bench to lead Denver with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

QUOTABLE: "We knew what we were capable of. We knew once we got things clicking we'd be able to get wins and move up in the standings. It's more of a sense of we're proud of ourselves and we got a lot of confidence right now."
-- Jazz forward Paul Millsap on the team not being surprised about its recent hot stretch and being a factor in the Western Conference playoff race.

THE STAT: The Jazz did more than keep up against a team that loves to run and gun. They outshined them. Utah had a 21-13 edge in fast-break points over Denver.

TURNING POINT: The Jazz put some distance between themselves and the Nuggets by outscoring them 20-7 in the final six minutes of the second quarter to take an eight-point lead into the break. But they really broke it open with a dynamic 18-1 run in the third quarter. Devin Harris had four of his nine assists during the spurt, and contributed a thunderous dunk. Hayward scored seven of Utah's 18 points.

HOT: The Jazz shot the ball well as a team (59.3 percent) in scoring a season-high 121 points. Jefferson (11-for-16), Millsap (6-for-10) and Burks (6-for-10) led the way. For Denver, JaVale McGee made his first five shots, while Harrington shot 5-for-7 in the second half.

NOT: The Nuggets lost the game in the middle quarters when their shooting touch left them. They shot 37.5 percent in the second quarter and 33.3 percent in the third. Ty Lawson and Corey Brewer each shot 2-for-8 for Denver.

BAD MOVE: Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo was ejected in the third quarter when he committed a Flagrant Two on Hayward. The two players were tangled up as a possession was changing and Afflalo caught Hayward in the face with his right elbow, earning an ejection. The Nuggets were already falling behind by too many points, and Afflalo's foul only added to their self-destruction. Afflalo was Denver's leading scorer when he was ejected.

QUOTABLE II: "It was just two guys. It was a physical game. I think he just got a little frustrated. I don't think there's anything there. It's just the nature of basketball. I'm just out there playing the game, and I'm not going to back down from anyone. I'm just going to continue to play the way I play."
-- Jazz guard Hayward on his run-in with Afflalo.

QUOTABLE III: "It was a bad play on my part."
-- Nuggets guard Afflalo on his run-in with Hayward.

ROOKIE WATCH: Burks impacted the game while it was still in doubt, scoring seven of his points in the first half while collecting two steals. Denver's Kenneth Faried scored in double figures for the third time in four games with 16 points. Jordan Hamilton got some rare playing time for the Nuggets in the blowout loss, and had three points in 12 minutes.

FANTASY WATCH: Denver's Wilson Chandler has been a popular waiver-wire pickup since he signed with the Nuggets last weekend. And for good reason. He played in his third game and made his second start since Danilo Gallinari was lost for a few weeks with a thumb injury. Against the Jazz, he started off well but showed he's still getting in game shape. He had 13 points, three rebounds and two assists.

QUOTABLE IV: "I was more upset with the fast breaks, and the points off turnovers, and the easy baskets they scored off our mistakes and the commitment to try and break up a tough play. I thought they outworked us more than they outplayed us. In this stage of the season, understanding how important this game was, they seemed to have a better understanding than we did."
-- Denver head coach George Karl on Utah's superior effort.

NOTABLE: Jazz forward Josh Howard underwent successful surgery on his left knee on Friday. He will be reevaluated in two weeks. Denver fell to 0-4 on the road against Northwest Division opponents. Utah's six-game winning streak is a season high.

UP NEXT: For the Nuggets, Sunday @ Minnesota, Monday @ Chicago, Wednesday @ Toronto. For the Jazz, Sunday @ Atlanta, Monday @ New Jersey, Wednesday @ Boston.

• Nuggets: Fernandez, Koufos
• Jazz: Howard

• Nuggets: --
• Jazz: --

• Lead Changes: 12
• Times Tied: 13

• Arena: EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT
• Officials: #10 Ron Garretson, #35 Kane Fitzgerald, #45 Brian Forte
• Attendance: 19250
• Duration: 2:18