Estimated duration: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY – As expected, the Utah Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets 123-102 to open the season Wednesday at the Vivint Arena.
wait? what?
No matter how the rest of the season goes, jazz fans have an opening night.
It wasn’t just that their young underdog team stalked the Denver Nuggets, widely believed to be bona fide champion contenders, but also provided such a haymaker in the first half that even back-to-back MVPs couldn’t bring them back. It’s time. From Matt.
That’s when a team full of players who feel overlooked and seen as expendable by other teams come together to play a frenzied and beautiful style of basketball that quickly attracts 18,000 fans in the arena. Did.
That’s when fans were introduced to Colin Sexton’s closing prowess, Jared Vanderbilt’s seemingly endless energy (not to mention his seemingly never-ending arms), and a team that was extremely fun to watch.
Especially when the first half hints at future developments.
It was an electric opening two quarters for the home team. By halftime, Utah had scored his 75 points, shot right out of 3-point range, and was pass-happy as his offense ended with his 20 assists. It all led to a 22-point lead at halftime.
Here are the stats that show Utah’s dominance in the first half of the season: Vanderbilt rebounded Denver as he went 12-11.
“It’s the way you have to play every night to have chances,” said Lauri Markkanen.
When the Jazz started the second quarter with a 12-0 run, highlighted by multiple extra effort plays by everyone dressed in purple, the Vivint crowd roared and scored well for a team full of rookies. gave a standing ovation.
Once it became clear what the outcome would be, that applause was quickly restored in the final minutes of the contest — a wholly shocking Jazz victory.
“It’s a really great team win,” said Jazz coach Will Hardy. “We had seven guys in double digits. Every guy in the game had an assist. Our physicality and tenacity really made an impact on our whole group.”
Nikola Jokic did his best to save the Nuggets from what many across the league perceive as an opening night embarrassment. He scored his 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting, and in the second quarter he tried to pull Denver back from a deficit that ballooned to 24 points. But every time Denver tried to push through hard times, the Jazz had an answer.
Nothing could be bigger than when Rudy Gay and Malik Beasley made three shots in a row to push the lead to 13 points with just under five minutes remaining.
Beasley’s shot triggered a highlight reel dance, and he stayed in place, shimmying and shivering in celebration.
“I saw him do it and I tried to copy it,” said Mike Conley, who had 13 points and eight assists that night.
Jazz has given me plenty of reasons to keep dancing ever since. The team’s lead never dropped below double digits again. Sexton confirmed that, scoring six of a team-high 20 points in the final minutes and putting the game away, including a layup on Jokic.
Markkanen had 17 points in the win, Rudy Gay had 16 and rookie Walker Kessler had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“We don’t have a guy who just takes over the games that we have every night,” Conley said. “It could be someone, it could be five or six guys. We have to do it collectively. So it’s just a fun environment.”
Wednesday was definitely fun.
Surprisingly so.
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