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It appears to me that the Denver Nuggets of this season have the enthusiasm and effort level of the Utah Jazz over the previous two seasons. The players aren't fighting hard for their head coach, and the front office seems to want to do two things at once, two opposite things, mind you. Sure, someone could make a list of comparisons between Brian Shaw and Tyrone Corbin -- but I'm not going to do it here today. We had a game last night between these two teams. The Nuggets at home were having some hard times, but let's be clear -- they were having hard times all over the place by being 3-17 in their last 20 games before tonight. The Jazz had just lost to the Los Angeles Lakers so something had to give.
Quickly we found out that it would be the Nuggets, and they just seemed to give up.
Final box score numbers:
| Player | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | +/- | BARPS | |||||||
| 1 | Dante Exum | 1 | 2 | * | 19 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 6 | |||
| 2 | Joe Ingles | 2 | 3 | * | 21 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 17 | |||
| 3 | Gordon Hayward | 3 | 2 | * | 26 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 27 | |||
| 4 | Derrick Favors | 4 | 5 | * | 28 | 21 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 36 | |||
| 5 | Rudy Gobert | 5 | * | 32 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 25 | ||||
| 6 | Trey Burke | 1 | 23 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 30 | |||||
| 7 | Elijah Millsap | 2 | 3 | 25 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 16 | ||||
| 8 | Rodney Hood | 3 | 2 | 20 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 20 | ||||
| 9 | Trevor Booker | 4 | 20 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 8 | |||||
| 10 | Jack Cooley | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 4 | ||||
| 11 | Bryce Cotton | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -5 | 7 | |||||
| 12 | Jeremy Evans | 4 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -8 | 3 | |||||
| 13 | Grant Jerrett | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 |
I am happy for the win, but man, our bigmen really do kick some butt on some nights. The "Big 3" really seems to be inching closer to a "Big 4" with the production the team is getting from Trey on offense. I don't hear anyone talking about Jamal Crawford's offense. Perhaps this is the right role for Burke for now? We shall see.
As for the Nuggets, our regional rivals . . .
Yeah, I guess you should Putin that in your pipes and smoke it, Denver! Sorry I gotta be mean, we're still rivals and I obviously still respect you; hence the happiness we all receive from beating you guys. Get a smart NCAA coach to run your team, and reap the rewards. That's what the Jazz did. And it's working. (N.B. We only have 22 wins, so maybe I should shut up?)