Five Observations: Nuggets win again thanks to resurgent defense

The Denver Nuggets rolled over the Utah Jazz 107-83 on Tuesday at Pepsi Center. Denver limited Utah to 32.1 percent shooting as it earned its third win in a row. Here are five observations from the game.

1. Denver doing it with defense

The Nuggets have done a 180 on the defensive end since head coach Michael Malone called them out following a Dec. 6 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Since the Nuggets allowed DeMarcus Cousins and Co. to rack up 123 points, they’ve started to make a habit of keeping opponents under the 90-point mark. Tuesday’s game marked the fifth time in 10 contests Denver held the opposition to 89 points or fewer.

There are a number of factors you can attribute the turnaround to. Torrey Craig, who guarded Joe Johnson in the first quarter then Donovan Mitchell in the second, is a strong, quick and versatile defender. Wilson Chandler has been excellent all season defensively. Mason Plumlee is playing well in an increased role. It also helps that Malone has shortened Denver’s rotation (more on that in a minute), cutting out some of the team’s minus defenders completely.

The Nuggets are making multiple rotations without breaking down .

“It’s tiring sometimes,” Jamal Murray said. “You come back and you’re in scramble mode. Guys are flying around and talking to each other. The past few games, we’ve gotten a lot of 24-second violations. That’s what it comes down to late in the game, late in the shot clock. We’ve done a great job of limiting those buckets.”

Denver held Utah to just 34 first-half points. Utah never scored more than 25 in any quarter and wound up making 27-82 field goals.

2. Eight-man rotation

What do wins over the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz all have in common? In each of them, Malone has  asked eight players to do the heavy lifting. He’s gone with Murray, Gary Harris, Chandler, Nikola Jokic and Plumlee in the starting lineup. Off the bench, he’s relied on Will Barton, Craig and Trey Lyles. The shortened rotation has helped the Nuggets earn three of their most impressive victories of the season.

Two players who were a part of the rotation earlier this season — Juancho Hernangomez and Emmanuel Mudiay — have been cut out. Hernangomez earned a DNP — Coach’s Decision against Utah. Mudiay returned after missing four games with a sprained right ankle, but he only got garbage time minutes late in the fourth quarter.

3. Jamal Murray stays hot

Murray didn’t waste much time getting going against the Jazz. He connected on the first three three-pointers he took and wound up with 13 first-quarter points. Murray finished with a game-high 22 points — the latest in a series of impressive December performances.

In 13 games this month, Murray is averaging 18.0 points on 47.3 percent shooting, grabbing 3.8 rebounds and handing out 2.8 assists. He’s shooting 52.2 percent from three-point land on 5.3 attempts per game.

Murray is now shooting 36.6 percent from three-point land, an impressive feat considering he was sitting at 25.3 percent from deep on Dec. 1.

“He’s a tireless worker,” Malone said. “He’s in the gym. He comes back at night time. And I think he’s settled down. Early in the season, obviously he’s a 20-year-old starter. He’s going to be up and down, a roller coaster. I think his consistency is a byproduct of his work ethic. It’s also a byproduct of him settling down and not forcing things. He’s not there yet, but he’s going to get there. And we believe in him 100 percent.”

4. Plumdog Millionaire’s reverse jams

Has there ever been an NBA player who was better at dunking backwards than forwards? You could make the case that this wacky distinction applies to Plumlee.

In the third quarter, Plumlee threw down a nasty reverse dunk, which Jokic served up for him on a silver platter.

It almost seems like Denver’s 6-foot-11 center is more confident throwing down dunks like the one above than when he’s facing the basket.

Plumlee started his fourth game in a row next to Jokic. The Nuggets are 3-1 in those contests. The Plumlee-Jokic combination — Pokic? Jumlee? Poker??? — has fared surprisingly well.

5. Nikola Jokic balls out then gets thrown out

You could tell Jokic was feeling it against the Jazz. In the second half, he got into one of those zones where he was toying with defenders. The chances of Jonas Jerebko containing him were not good at that point in the game, and Jokic knew it.

It looked like the Nuggets were going to cruise to an easy victory with Jokic at the controls. Then he got tossed.

Here’s video of Jokic’s flagrant two and subsequent ejection. He caught Jerebko on a swim move. pic.twitter.com/Pf8MiKSVFR

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) December 27, 2017

Jokic was charged with a Flagrant 2 foul for catching Jerebko in the face with his elbow.

“He (referee Marc Davis) said that as Nikola was coming down, he said that Nikola initiated contact with Jerebko, and his elbow caught him in the head,” Malone said.

Jokic exited with 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Afterward, he was back in character as The Joker.

“I think it’s me,” Jokic deadpanned when asked about the defensive strides the Nuggets have made.