SALT LAKE CITY — The last thing Utah wants is another trip to Denver.
The Jazz has the opportunity to eliminate the Nuggets tonight, in front of their home crowd. It’s an opportunity it knows it can’t afford to miss. If Utah fails, the Nuggets get Game 7 back at home and a ton of momentum to go along with it.
“We have a chance to close out tonight,” Utah guard Deron Williams said. “We want to make the most of the opportunity. We don’t want to go back to Denver. It’s important for us to win. If they win this game they’re going to have all the confidence in the world.”
Added Jazz forward Carlos Boozer: “We want to advance, man. We want to win the game and move on to the next round, so for us the best chance is tonight. We have to bring everything we have tonight, all our guns, all our weapons, all our focus, all our intensity, for tonight.”
History says the Jazz usually take care of business in this situation. The Jazz are 16-7 all-time in closeout games at home. Additionally, Utah has won all four seven game series in situations where they have led it 3-2.
“We don’t want to prolong this any longer,” guard Wesley Matthews said. “We know we have our crowd at our back. We’re excited about this one.”
The Nuggets forced this contest by winning Game 5 on Wednesday night in Denver using dominating defense in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets are hoping some of the momentum carries over into tonight. The Jazz is banking on the fact it can quell any momentum using home court as a catalyst.
If the Jazz ends up winning tonight, it will probably be because the team got a hefty contribution from forward Kyle Korver. The Nuggets have gradually snuffed him out of the series. Korver started with 13 points in each of the first two games, but saw his point totals decreased in each subsequent game, all the way down to zero points on 0-of-6 shooting in Game 6.
Asked what Utah needs to do to get Korver going again, Boozer brushed off the query, saying “He’ll be fine.”
Williams said the home court should help all of the role players.
“Guys tend to shoot better at home, play better at home, have more confidence at home,” Williams said. “We weren’t worried last game, just missed some shots.”
Jazz center Kyrylo Fasenko wants to improve his game as well. He said wasn’t happy with his game and would get himself more involved in all aspects. Defensively, Utah wants to hold down the Nuggets bench, beginning with J.R. Smith. When Smith scores in bunches, the Nuggets have won. When he hasn’t, the Nuggets have lost.
“We know Chauncey (Billups) and (Carmelo Anthony) are going to shoot a lot and get a lot of shots up and score a lot because they shoot so much and they’re so talented,” Boozer said. “We have to do a better job on the other guys. They are talented, too, but they don’t get as many shots. So, the shots they do get, we have to try to make them miss them.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
