Rudy Gobert, Jazz present problems defensively for Nuggets

DENVER — The Nuggets are looking to continue their recent success while the Utah Jazz, who are coming off a heartbreaking loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder are looking to continue their winning ways as well. The Jazz have won seven of their last nine games while the Nuggets have won four of their last six.

Regular season game No. 44 | Denver Nuggets (18-25) vs Utah Jazz (29-17)

Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado  | 7:00 PM MST | TV: Altitude

Slowing Gobert

It’s not breaking news to say that Rudy Gobert has revolutionized the way the Jazz play basketball. He is an absolute force defensively and has taken large steps to improving his offensive arsenal.

“Gobert is having an All-Star year. I think he’s been terrific,” Said Malone at shootaround Tuesday. “He is the anchor to the best defense in the NBA and I think his offensive game is improving.”

Gobert is the main cog that makes the Jazz defense the second-best in basketball behind the Golden State Warriors with a defensive rating of 101.3. The Nuggets will need to find a way to limit his effectiveness protecting the rim to come away with another victory at home.

“Game one, when we beat them at home, we were able to get him into foul trouble and that was a big part of us being able to beat them,” Malone said. “Games two and three we were not able to do so and his defense, rim protection, and presence was too much to overcome.”

The Nuggets do have the tools to limit Gobert. Nikola Jokic has been one of the most efficient offensive players in basketball since returning to the starting lineup. His combination of facilitating at an elite level and being able to stretch out beyond the three-point line is the recipe to expose Gobert.

“When you play against a shot blocker like Rudy, hopefully by Nikola’s ability to shoot the ball will take that shot blocker away from the basket,” Malone explained.

Malone thinks that Jokic is beginning to learn to play better against more athletic centers. If the Nuggets hope to come away with a win tonight against the Jazz they will need a good game from Jokic.

“Jokic has had success lately against DeAndre Jordan,” Malone said. “DeAndre, Rudy Gobert, those long athletic shot-blocking bigs; I think Nikola is getting more comfortable playing against them and learning how to use his angles and his shot fakes and his skill to counter some of that.”

Footnotes

Emmanuel Mudiay is expected to miss his second straight game after aggravating his back against the Clippers back on Jan. 21st. Malone called him “very doubtful” which, most likely, means that Jameer Nelson with be starting at point guard. Backing up Nelson will be a mixture of Will Barton and Jamal Murray.

The Denver Nuggets have reportedly waived Mo Williams and have signed Johnny O’Bryant to a 10-day contract. The former LSU Tiger is a 6-foot-8 forward who has played a total of 100 games in the NBA and has averages of 3.0 points, 2.5 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per game.