Business HANDLED: Nuggets Beat Jazz For Seventh Straight
Denver Nuggets handle Utah Jazz for seventh straight win, fueled by Jamal Murray’s explosive 37-point night. Can Murray’s hot hand and Denver’s evolving offensive balance spark another title run as the playoffs approach?
Matt Moore spotlights the Nuggets’ growth, emphasizing contributions from Cam Johnson, Jonas Valančiūnas, and Bruce Brown, while breaking down why a “lackluster” win is actually a sign of maturity for Denver. Discussion covers Nikola Jokić’s underwhelming outing and playoff readiness, injury updates on Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon, and strategic wrinkles heading into a critical matchup with Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. Get timely insights on Denver’s playoff seeding scenarios, potential hurdles against elite pick-and-roll guards, and why nuanced roster health could shape the Western Conference picture.
Is Denver peaking at the right time, or are looming injuries the biggest threat to their championship aspirations?
00:00 Denver beats Utah, Jamal shines
03:33 Nuggets’ resilience despite poor play
07:10 Analyzing team performance Thursday
10:19 Upcoming Nuggets episodes and Jokic analysis
13:34 Managing player energy for the season
15:47 Hamstring caution before playoffs
21:32 Spurs, Thunder, and playoff risks
23:24 Nuggets playoff hopes and strategy
26:42 Defending against taller players
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13 Comments
Hey Matt, we don’t need to hear your resume for every single episode of Locked on nuggets. Just get to it or I’m hitting the fast forward
I don't know if Jokic is bored of the regular season or he is burned out. He's been performing on such a high level for so long and carrying this team, especially the last two seasons, and it's possible that he'll go through a longer slump before he "resurfaces" again. We don't need to look further than Jamal, who is having the season of his life right now, but was nowhere to be found the previous two. And it was not just an injury, we all saw what his attitude was throughout the season as well as the effort, he seemed mentally checked out. I don't think it's a coincidence that he's experiencing a slump at the same time Murray is burning hot. I think he's finally been able to let the foot of the gas for a moment and is going through some sort of a catharsis. I've had similar experiences in my life. So, I am a bit pessimistic regarding Jokic when it comes to this postseason because, at least from my experience, it can take a while to come out of it. At the same time, I have no doubt that he will come back better than ever. Contrary to Matt's previous video, I believe that Jokic and his body are going to have the longest peak in NBA history.
Not very optimistic about the playoffs because of health luck this season
1:48 Thank you for keeping the friends reference to yourself. Very polite of you. No one wants that.
Win or lose I find watching this much more passive Jokic we've seen under Adelman so frustrating to watch. When he's being aggressive he can score as easily as anyone else in the league and more efficiently than anyone but he just refuses to be aggressive for more than one or two quarters max and is often waiting until the 3rd or the 4th when he's no longer fresh to do so. Under Malone he was much more aggressive and would often come out aggressive from the 1st quarter and we got to rest him in the 4th a lot more. How many times have we been able to do that under Adelman even though we actually have depth now and the best supporting cast we've had for him? We're constantly in life and death struggles and often with bad teams
I don't care how great a playmaker and passer as he is when you have arguably the best scorer in the world, the most efficient scorer (and I factor the degree of shot difficultly into that) you have to utilize that weapon and take full advantage of it. Luka is a great playmaker and passer but he's very aggressive and looking to score for 4 quarters. SGA is very aggressive and looking to score for 4 quarters. All the top scorers are much more aggressive than Jokic. I'm really concerned about our chances in the playoffs if Jokic isn't aggressive and shooting as much as he should be. We won a ring because Jokic was aggressive and shooting the ball lots and Jamal was too. Not one of them both of them
And he's turning the ball over a lot because his mindset is so locked into passing mode and not aggressive shooting mode. People often say he ''always makes the right play'' but that's not close to being true because often times the right play is to be aggressive and shoot the ball and not overpass it. It's all well and good when your teammates are hitting their shots and you're beating weak teams but it's not a recipe for success in the playoffs.
Around New Year I thought last 12 game will show us everything we need to know about Nuggets and that's about right they have 2 Spurs and one OKC game however if SUPERSTAR ALLNBA JAMAL DIDN'T F.UP against LAL they would be relaxing 3rd place and no stupid math of yours which doesn't function would matter you can't stay 4th by losing to Spurs and beating OKC hoping that SPURS will end at no.1 what's the f.ing difference being kick out in 2nd or 3rd round, if you ain't in NBA FINALS you failed AGAIN and it's not because of your no.1 guy
Jokic refusing to shoot has cost Nuggets so many games over the years and literally hurt his own legacy.
Box score doesn't tell the story I agree. Jok was good. 37 points on 30 shots is not great my man. Jokic is not bored. He has not been bored. He has never been this engaged so please just stop. You are banking on these vids cause you know that Jokic doesn't watch dumb social media gossip
Well, I honestly see it differently.
If we expect Jamal to play like he did today in the Playoffs, Denver won't get anywhere. After the first few minutes, when Murray had already hit three three-pointers, he decided it was going to be an old-fashioned, hero-ball Jamal game. He's been making horrendous decisions practically the entire game. Sure, he's been very effective scoring, but what happens when he's not? The game didn't call for him to be playing isolation plays and taking inefficient shots.
The team played pretty decent defense in the first half, except for the last two minutes of the first quarter. In the second half, Denver was very sluggish and lacked intensity. They gave up a lot of points on turnovers and missed easy shots. Well, really, only in the third quarter.
Nikola did play well overall. In the first half, he acted as the team's point guard, more focused on creating plays than scoring. Now, he did try to score, but it seems that wasn't the game plan, or the other players didn't want to/dared to pass him the ball. Please review the first quarter. I counted at least five instances where he had open position in the paint but didn't receive the ball because Jamal, Cam, AG, or whoever else preferred to play isolation on offense. In the third quarter, he did receive the ball in advantageous positions and easily scored 12 points. Furthermore, he played very good defense in the first half.
Denver CRIPPLES keeps limping…Most teams don't pay 25 million per year to CRIPPLES…Only THJ and JOKER are worthy of their contract, rest of the roster should return money and go work in Walmart…
I think Jokic is helping to get his guys some confidence. Cam looks like he is confident and is playing really well, CB played well but needs to learn from THJ how to just put shots up when he has a couple feet of space. But Bruce!!! I don't care what he does on offense if he brings defense like that, and Val just bullied the Jazz. They both looked good against a bad team.
The Jazz are a young hungry team looking for new contracts, they will hurt teams like us at points because we got a little lazy.
This injury bug is crazy man, I was questioning the training staff but you cannot have all these fluke injuries and blame the staff. I just hope we can get right these last few games, because we need everyone for a run. Everyone wqs limping at one point or another last night, its scary to see…
Why do we always excuse Jokics lack of effort? Hes not Green hes potentially a top 10 player ever and making 60mil a year. People spend their hard earned money to see him play and 20 games a year of BS effort is simply pathetic. During the Jokic era they have never had a 10 game win streak…. think about that. This costs games. Playoff position that results in tougher opponents in tougher spots and potential series losses. Jobs are in the line…. we would crucify any other superstar for this yet we give Jokic a pass. I wouldn't redo his supermax because you don't get that level of effort from him. Hes under contract and we're problem losing g Pwat due to Denvers terrible contracts and overpaying him makes that worse. Jokic will just get more moody next year when there is less talent around him and.he wo t push harder to compensate
Nuggets aren't going anywhere if Gordon doesn't come around…I thought he had a home gym…his shooting % is terrible