Nuggets look to rediscover winning ways in Utah against Jazz

Regular Season Game No. 20 |Denver Nuggets (7-12) at Utah Jazz (11-9) 

Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah | 7:00 PM MST | TV: NBA TV/Altitude

The Denver Nuggets lost in embarrassing fashion to an exhausted Houston Rockets team Friday night and now face the Jazz on the road in Denver’s second game of a back-to-back to begin a six-game road trip.

The Nuggets need to right the ship and need to do so quickly. Here’s what to watch for tonight in Utah:

Effort, effort, effort

After failing to show up in the last two games against the Heat and the Rockets, losing both partly because of a lack of urgency and effort, the Nuggets find themselves desperate for wins after losing four of the last five games. Denver needs to find a way to come out of the gate with aggression and assertiveness to start one of the most important stretches of the season or continue to fall further into a cataclysmic abyss.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Michael Malone said after Houston’s 128-110 win in Denver Friday. “It is one thing to lose games but when you are outworked on your own floor, Miami did it and Houston did it, I have no explanation. All I know is that it is unacceptable.”

Malone did not sugar coat his message. Right now the Nuggets are playing lackadaisical and need a fire lit underneath them. Malone took the bulk of the blame but this will need to be a complete team effort if the Nuggets are to bounce back and start showing signs of life once again.

Denver has looked lost lately but hopefully, Malone can find some way to integrate some energy and fervor into the Nuggets. Traveling for the second game of a back-to-back is sometimes a scheduled loss but the Nuggets need to have a positive showing on the road in terms of effort and urgency to begin trending positively once again.

Malone searching for more energy

“If guys want to go out there and go through the motions I have to find a bunch of guys, even if they are young that will go out there and at least play,” Malone said Friday night.

While Malone did not mention any one player by name it does seem like he is calling out the uninspired play of some of his veterans by threatening to play younger players if needed. Denver’s starting lineup has struggled all season and has yet to show the needed consitency on both ends of the floor game in and game out.

“It is one thing to be outplayed,” Malone said. “But it is a completely other thing to be outworked and that does not sit well with me.”

It sounds as if the Nuggets may be in for a shakeup. As a whole, Denver looks lost and needs to find a different solution to get back to winning. Whatever that may entail needs to happen quickly. If the Nuggets continue not to show up to games ready to play and turn the ball over at such an alarming rate, then the overall negativity surround the team will continue to intensify.

Malone knows the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result and made sure that was known to all who were within earshot after Denver’s loss to Houston.

“If we think we show up to Utah tomorrow night and think it’s going to be different we are going to get our ass kicked again,” Malone said. “We are a bad team right now and I have to start doing a much better job because the direction we are headed right now is in a bad bad place.”