The Denver Nuggets were back in action Saturday night as they played their division rivals the Utah Jazz. Utah was coming into the game with a 2-7 record in their last 9 games, while the Nuggets were 7-2. When looking at the standings it was a tale of two different teams as the Nuggets were in the Top 3 in the West, while the Jazz were fighting to make it in for a play-in tournament match-up. The Jazz were looking to steal a win on the road against a tough Denver team; however, their chances of winning this game would only get harder as two of the Jazz’s key players were out with injuries, Lauri Markkanen was out with a quad injury and Taylor Hendricks was out with a ligament sprain.

However, the Jazz were hoping that speculation of Jokic being questionable for this game was true as their was rumors he would sit-out because of a bruised arm. Nonetheless, it was negative after negative for the Jazz as Jokic played through it and all of the Nuggets key starters were in the line-up. A winning result was almost a certainty for the Nuggets as they just recently beat one of the NBA’s best teems in the Boston Celtics and now we’re playing a struggling short-handed Utah team. However, the usual key players for the Jazz did make this game closer than it should have been as players like Keyonte George, Jordan Clarkson, John Collins, Collin Sexton, Brice Sensebaugh all had more than 15 points tonight. With Keyonte George having the highest of the bunch scoring 29 with 5 rebounds, 6 assists.

But, despite the Jazz’s efforts were not even close to enough as the Nuggets got 38 points in the 1st quarter and 40 in the second compared to the Jazz’s 22 in the 1st and 22 in the 2nd. Making the score at halftime 78-44 Nuggets. Then, Denver must have felt bad because in the 3rd quarter they let the Utah Jazz score 44 points compared to their 22. However, this was the only blemish on the scorecard for the Nuggets as this was the only quarter in the game where the Nuggets didn’t get more than 37 points. As in the 4th The Nuggets scored 40 again compared to The Jazz’s 33. Overall, despite that 3rd quarter the Nuggets played angry all game as they wanted to teach their division rivals a lesson as the final score of this competition was 142-121 in Denver’s biggest scoring performance of the season being only a few teams this NBA season who got more than 140 points scored. The key players for The Nuggets tonight were the usuals Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, and Michael Porter Jr. As all 3 of them had more than 19 respectively, with Jamal Murray having the highest of the bunch scoring 37 points. With all of the positives in this Nuggets performance the big question is what does this win mean for The Nuggets going forward?

Going forward, I think that this win is vital in helping them secure a top spot in the West because with the win the Nuggets are 8-2 in their last 10 games and they have a record of 44-20 which is the exact same record as the Minnesota Timberwolves the team currently in second place. By getting this win the Nuggets hope to re-start another winning streak as they close out their 4 game home stretch Monday against the struggling Toronto Raptors. If the Nuggets can get a win against the Raptors and have The Thunder lose to The Grizzlies, and The Timberwolves lose to The Lakers, the Nuggets could end this home streak being the top ranked team in the Western Conference. However, if this happens in order for Denver to stay at the top they will have to dominate their 4 game road stretch against teams like The Heat, Spurs, and Mavericks. I know it only shows 3 matches but this was done for a reason as the Nuggets last game of the road stretch is by far the hardest as they play against the team that is currently tied with them the Minnesota Timberwolves. Anyways, all Denver has to do is win their next 5 games and they are guaranteed to be the second ranked team in the West by a game or more and have the potential to even be ranked higher if they get some help. Overall, the future is looking promising for the Nuggets playoff contentions as they hope to guarantee home-court in the playoffs by getting some much needed wins in these last few weeks of regular season basketball.