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DENVER — Before Saturday’s game, Denver coach Michael Malone said there were concerns that his team would overlook the Utah Jazz.
The Nuggets, after all, were coming off a victory against the Boston Celtics in a game that could prove to be a preview of the Finals. There’s a little less excitement about facing a team that’s gone 2-9 since the trade deadline.
“Tonight is different. You’re playing a team that’s 5.5 games out of play-in,” Malone said. “These guys don’t know who Brice Sensabaugh is.”
Turns out Malone didn’t have much to worry about as the Nuggets led by 39 in their 142-121 win over the Jazz. But they probably also know who Sensabaugh is now.
The rookie, making his second start, scored 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting and had three assists. He finished 7 of 8 from inside the 3-point line as he showcased a series of shots. He leaned in on a leaner, passed out for a contested mid-range jumper and also got to the rim a bit.
And in a game where the Jazz lost by 21 points and by almost 40, the rookie managed to have a plus/minus (+6) – a rally in the third quarter was the key. The Jazz went on a 27-8 run in the final 6:31 of the third quarter to cut Denver’s lead to 14.
Yes, the game was already largely over, but for Jazz fans looking for silver linings, this run provided plenty of them. Especially since it was Sensabaugh and fellow rookie Keyonte George who did the most damage.
George scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half and finished with six assists on the night. George was 10 of 17 from the field, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range.
“I think the best thing for both of those guys is they have a tremendous amount of confidence in themselves,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “They have a lot of trust in each other. The way they talk to each other during the match, encourage each other and feed off each other, I think it’s positive.”
Unlike the Jazz, the Nuggets are getting into playoff shape. They have now won eight of their last nine games and are on the verge of returning to the top spot.
In the first half, the Nuggets looked every bit like the defending champions; they scored 78 points on 29 of 44 shooting and 14 of 20 from 3-point range. They exploited every mistake Utah made and built a giant lead.
“I think one time I looked up and it was like they were shooting 80 percent,” Sensabaugh said.
The young rookies got a glimpse of a championship-caliber team and saw how far they still have to go to truly stand out in the league.
Sensabaugh and George both need to learn guarding (something that can be said of the Jazz as a whole; again, the Nuggets had 78 points at halftime) and combined for nine turnovers. A few of those giveaways prevented the Jazz from cutting into the Nuggets’ lead even further in the third quarter. It’s all part of the growing pains that every player and team goes through.
It took the Nuggets years to reach the top with their current core. They struck gold in the repechage, developed stars, then nailed the moves on the edges. It finally landed them a tile, but not before lottery-bound seasons, playoff heartbreak, injuries and failures.
Jazz is still in the initial phase of this journey. Did they strike gold in the repechage? It’s still too early to know for sure, but maybe – just maybe – their two rookie guards can be part of a rival core in Utah in the future. George, for example, has already partially modeled his game on a Nuggets star: Jamal Murray.
“I try to play as much like Jamal Murray as possible as far as the type of shots he gets,” George said in November. “I think maybe not this year, but I feel like in the years to come I might play not exactly like him. But you might see more of a mid-range game that can bang and just play. ‘be confident with every shot I shoot.’
On Saturday, George scored his points with his 3-point shot and drove to the basket. Although he’s also the primary guard to score, Murray, who had 37 points Saturday, also uses a lot more off-ball moves and has a more complex offensive game (it also helps that Nikola Jokic directs traffic). If George can replicate some of this in future seasons, he will become even more of an offensive threat.
So while Saturday proved to be a good performance for the Jazz rookies — especially considering the result — it also came with lessons baked in for the future.
“They both know there’s a lot of work to do, though, to get to the level they want to get to,” Hardy said. “To be a team competing for a championship, these guys are going to have to really raise their level.”
