SALT LAKE CITY — The Denver Nuggets’ let a considerable second-half lead slip away in their 2017-18 season opener, falling to the 106-96.
Here are nine takeaways from the loss:
1. Energy boost. Our game story centered around the Nuggets’ collapse, and the candid descriptors used by coaches and players. Here’s one more from : “We just came into the game like it was another game, but the atmosphere was loud and real. I think we’ve got to come into the game with more energy, more tightness, more (of a) group mentality.”
2. Point guard answer — finally. Denver’s point guard nonmystery was finally solved, with Murray starting and coming off the bench after veteran was waived. Murray and Mudiay played pretty even minutes, and both struggled shooting the ball. Murray totaled eight points (2 of 6 field goals), two rebounds, two assists and three turnovers in 19:59, while Mudiay also scored eight points (3 of 8 field goals) with one rebound, two assists and zero turnovers.
3. Lineup samples. Mason Plumlee, and Mudiay were the first Nuggets off the bench, teaming up with and Paul Millsap late in the first quarter. and started the second quarter, but both played less than seven total minutes. At one point in the second quarter, Barton played point guard alongside Harris, , Millsap and .
4. Barton cools off. Barton scored 21 points and made 7 of his 8 field-goal attempts in the first 24 minutes but did not re-enter the game until late in the third quarter. He only scored two points the rest of the way, missing five of his six shots.
He acknowledged that is not always the best thing for a shooter on a roll.
“Itap hard when you’ve got it going in the first half, you’re coming off the bench and then itap kind of a long wait before you get back in the third quarter,” Barton said. “Then I’m just trying to play good basketball, not rush it, try to get a feel for it again and not try to cost my team anything … Itap kind of a weird feeling, but there’s no excuses. You gotta go out there and get the job done.”
5. Millsap’s debut. The newly acquired big man made his biggest impact in the third quarter, scoring eight points on 4 of 7 shooting. But perhaps his most impressive spurt came in the first half, when he grabbed a rebound, brought the ball up the floor, drove to the bucket, got fouled, finished the And-1 and made the free throw.
6. Draft-night subplot. This will be a storyline throughout the Nuggets-Jazz series, after these two teams made a draft-night trade that sent Trey Lyles to Denver and a pick that eventually became rookie Donovan Mitchell to Utah. The Jazz won Wednesday’s round. Mitchell became an emergency starter due to Rodney Hood’s “stomach issues” and totaled 10 points and four assists, including a nifty spin move and finish that made the crowd gasp. Lyles, meanwhile, did not play until the last two minutes and could be the odd man out of Denver’s rotation, at least for the time being. Nuggets rookie Tyler Lydon, another piece of that trade, was inactive.
7. Chandler struggles. Malone has said over the past few days that he would make an effort to get Chandler more involved offensively. That was clearly the case Wednesday, as Chandler was looking for his shot more than in the preseason. But the new starting small forward finished with nine points on 4 of 11 shooting with two rebounds, and had the worst plus/minus on the team at minues-23.
8. Random stat. The Nuggets and Jazz both missed exactly one free throw. Denver went 11 of 12, while Utah went 15 of 16.
9. Road trip chronicles. The easy trip to Salt Lake means it can all be done in a 24-hour span, as a 6 a.m. flight arrives in town in plenty of time for shootaround. But that also leaves little time for exploring. I took a walk downtown to grab a late lunch — I wound up at a brewpub called Squatter’s — and the weather was beautiful. The renovated Vivint Smart Home Arena is also super nice, particularly the huge video boards.
