Key takeaways from the Denver Nuggets' convincing 80-60 win over the Utah Jazz

The Denver Nuggets got their second 20+ point win at Summer League Thursday over the Utah Jazz 80-60. It was another encouraging showing from Jamal Murray, Juancho Hernangomez and the young Denver nucleus here in Las Vegas.

Here’s what I saw:

Jamal Murray getting in his comfort zone

For a second straight game, Murray looked himself. The 19-year-old finished with 20 points on an efficient 7-13 shooting and hit 3-6 from 3-point range. More importantly, Murray got his baskets in a number of ways; from the perimeter, by using his developing mid-range games which now includes a soft floater, and even was able to get to the rim, albeit against a porous Jazz frontline. As the Nuggets continue to feature Murray more and more on offense, expect these type of high-volume performances like the breakout third quarter where Murray scored ten points (just two less than the entire Jazz team), from the No. 7 pick. His defense is still spotty and he struggled to stay with Utah players on the perimeter who won’t sniff the league after Las Vegas, but all in all it was another encouraging performance from Murray.

Jimmer Fredette regresses

After three games where Fredette looked an end-of-the-rotation NBA player, the point guard suffered through his first subpar game in Las Vegas. Fredette finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists, but shot only 3-11 from the field and seemed out of sync with Murray, forced passes that weren’t there and seemed like he was pressing. However, It’s hard to fault Fredette for looking for his shot – he’s desperate for an NBA look, whether that’s training camp or preseason and the pressure to perform like he had through Denver’s first three games has to be on his mind. It will be interesting to see how Fredette bounces back from a rough outing.

Juancho Hernangomez’s versatility continues to show

Hernangomez continues to get better and improve every time he sees the court at Summer League. Against Utah, he moved fluidly in the half court, transitioning from “the screener” to performing a dribble handoff seamlessly, and once again displayed his versatile skill-set that made him so attractive to the Nuggets at No. 15 overall in the draft. Hernangomez wasn’t as productive as he was against Miami and finished with eight points and four rebounds, but looked every bit as comfortable in his role. He’s a much better finisher around the rim than I initially gave him credit for and has extremely soft hands that allow him to reel in passes when they’re off target.

Josh Adams continues to see the floor

Adams might be the most underrated storyline to emerge from the Denver roster at Summer League as the undrafted rookie out of Wyoming once again found himself getting heavy minutes throughout Thursday’s game. Adams played 18 minutes, the same as starter Axel Toupane, scored six points, dished out two assists, and played under control most of the night. The 22-year-old still looks overmatched at times, but I could see Adams receiving a training camp invite out of his performance thus far in Las Vegas.

Nuggets in the quarter-finals

They are meaningless Summer League games in the long run, but it’s fun to see these young Nuggets players compete for something before the season begins. They’ll go up against an exciting Suns team that features No. 4 overall pick Dragan Bender, No. 8 overall pick Marquese Chriss, and No. 34 pick Tyler Ulis. The fourth-seeded Nuggets will take on the fifth-seeded Suns on Saturday, July 16 for a spot in the Summer League quarter-finals.