The J-Notes
Fansided

Utah Jazz: Northwest Division Comparison – November

By Jared Woodcox

Oct 19, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless (4) defends against Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) during the first quarter at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 19, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless (4) defends against Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) during the first quarter at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
Oct 31, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Denver Nuggets guard Jameer Nelson (1) shoots for a basket past Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl (42) in the first half at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Denver Nuggets guard Jameer Nelson (1) shoots for a basket past Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl (42) in the first half at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /

Denver Nuggets

Current Record: 1-2

Standings: 3rd in Division, 9th in Conference

Although the Nuggets currently sit one spot ahead of the Jazz (only by merit of a better conference record) in both the division and conference standings, I definitely don’t expect this to be the case throughout the season.

However, Denver surely deserves credit for what they’ve done so far as they beat a Pelicans team on the road that saw Anthony Davis post an incredible stat line of 50 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, four blocks and five steals and also took two solid teams in the Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers down to the wire.

Portland only just managed to escape in overtime thanks to Damian Lillard’s cold-blooded dagger and the Raptors needed a monster performance from their starting backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan (62 points combined on 53.5 percent shooting) to stave off what was almost a jaw-dropping comeback by the crafty Denver squad.

Nevertheless, much like the Wolves, the Nuggets are still trying to build their way up to becoming something special. They have some incredible young talent and some formidable vets, but they seem more like the team that can compete against anybody, maybe even give them a run for their money, but that will struggle to truly seal the deal in the majority of their contests.

We’ll see how the rest of the season plays out for the Nuggets, but despite a discouraging start for the Jazz and a rough stretch of games ahead, I’m relatively confident that by next month’s analysis, Utah will have overtaken them in the standings.

Home/Jazz News