Denver Nuggets at Utah Jazz Game Thread: Our side of the mountain is better

The Denver Nuggets are a .500 team in the tough Western Conference. They have defeated the Pistons, Cavaliers, Suns, and Thunder. These are four of the teams we've also beaten. They lost to the Knicks, a team we beat, but beat the Pacers, a team we lost to. Beyond that they've recently defeated the Pelicans, Bulls (the night after they played us), and Lakers (in OT). They've taken care of business early on, and have played half of their games at home and on the road. They are doing well, and doing it quickly. Their pace is amazing, and they play a style of basketball that utilizes their athletes. It's something to watch.

It's hopefully something the Utah Jazz don't stand and watch tonight, though. While Utah is 102-73 All-Time in the regular season series -- with a dominating 69-19 advantage at home -- I worry about some of the more recent early season blowout losses that our team has had at the hands of an aggressive and energetic Nuggets team.

I don't want to detail them here, but we've had a bad home loss to Denver seemingly every few years -- and always in Q4. I hope we don't have one tonight, because it would mean the team has lost five straight home games then. Yikes.

Denver Nuggets:

Utah Jazz:

Starters:

UPDATE!

Derrick Favors (flu-like symptoms) and Jeremy Evans (sprained left ankle) are OUT tonight. #DENatUTA

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 2, 2014

With Favors out (flu-like symptoms) Trevor Booker will start. #DENatUTA

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 2, 2014

• Point Guard: Ty Lawson vs. Trey Burke
• Shooting Guard: Arron Afflalo vs. Alec Burks
• Small Forward: Wilson Chandler vs. Gordon Hayward
• Power Forward: Kenneth Faried vs. Enes Kanter
• Center: Timofey Mozgov vs. Derrick Favors

There's a huge advantage for them in a running game, and particularly with Lawson over Burke, and Faried against Kanter. In the half court the Kanter-man becomes stronger and more adept at keeping the defense honest. Wilson Chandler is a shell of his former self, and Hayward should give him the business tonight . . . I hope . . . he used to give people the business . . .

Marquee Match-up:

Arron Afflalo and Alec Burks. I'm calling it. Burks has to step up and devastate a team he has routinely shown up. Against Denver he shoots .488, and averages his 9th most PPG average. Alec hasn't scored 20 points since November 18th, and it's time for him to show WHY the Jazz were so happy to show him the money.

Afflalo is smart, can hit the three, and is a very good defender. He's just not good enough to defend Alec at in his "Top Swagg Mode". We haven't seen that mode much this season, though. It's likely that Afflalo has the better game as he, 29 year old in his 8th year, should be the more steady, less streaky character out there on the court.

Bench Mobs:

Denver is legion with Nate Robinson, Danilo Gallinari, and J.J. Hickson. Those three guys could make a claim to start for not just the Jazz, but their own team as the season progresses. The Jazz do have diminishing returns out of Trevor Booker and Joe Ingles. Dante Exum needs to be more assertive, and Rudy Gobert needs more playing time. I think the Jazz bench can be good. The difference here is that the Denver bench IS good right now. They have the advantage for sure.

Injuries:

• Jeremy Evans (UTA) is OUT
• Randy Foye (DEN) is OUT
• Darrell Arthur (DEN) is probable
• JaVale McGee (DEN) is probable and is supposed to play

I think Foye would have been someone who could go off on the Jazz, and the Nuggets have no fear for Evans; so this is clearly to the Jazz' advantage.

At the end of the day, Denver sucks. So let's beat them.

GO JAZZ GO!