David Adelman saved a challenge for the end, and it saved the Nuggets from a disastrous loss.
Keyonte George was going to the foul line with 16 seconds left and a chance to give Utah the lead Monday night. If he made both, Denver was going to have to score without Nikola Jokic. He had just fouled out trying to stop George at the rim.
Turns out, he hadn’t. Denver challenged the call successfully, and the result was a game-winning clean block for Jokic. The Nuggets snapped a two-game skid with an ugly 128-125 win over the Jazz, moving back within a half-game of fourth-place Minnesota in the West standings.
March Madness
“I will explore,” David Adelman vowed after losing to the Timberwolves on Sunday. He was talking about Jokic’s rest stints, but the experimentation went far beyond that 24 hours later.
The situation in Utah was especially conducive to unorthodox lineups, as Adelman was game-planning without his top four forwards. Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson remained out with hamstring strains. Cam Johnson (ankle) and Spencer Jones (shoulder) also stayed home for the one-game trip. Adelman was ready to get weird.
For the first time this season, he started a game with a double-big lineup. Spacing was awkward early with Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas trying to get set up properly. Utah crowded the paint, and Denver committed three turnovers in the first four minutes. After Valanciunas checked out, he didn’t play the rest of the first half. The two centers were more effective together for a few minutes to start the second half, turning a 67-66 deficit into a brief 81-74 lead, only for their stint to end on a 5-0 Utah run.
What did it all mean for the non-Jokic minutes? Adelman went ultra-small in the second quarter, with Zeke Nnaji at the five surrounded by four guards. The closest thing to a power forward was probably Bruce Brown, who’s been assuming dunker spot responsibilities more often during Gordon’s absence.
The second-half rotation got shaken up when Jokic committed his fourth foul and checked out with 3:56 left in the third. He had to take another two-minute breather in the final frame after picking up his fifth foul.
Murray to the rescue
Jamal Murray quietly went into a bit of a slump in February, shooting 44% from the field and 34% from three for the month. He snapped out of it in Salt Lake City, where the Nuggets desperately needed a hero.
Murray made a collection of leaning and off-balance 3s during an 8-for-13 performance from deep. He scored 18 of his 45 points in the third quarter as Denver pushed its lead to 100-93. When the game entered clutch time — the two most dreaded words to Nuggets fans lately — Murray was the offense. Down 125-122 with 90 seconds to go, the Nuggets went to flat spacing along the baseline and allowed Murray to dance in isolation for a tough midrange jumper.
He drew a shooting foul from the midrange on Denver’s next possession, earning a pair of free throws to take the lead for good with 32 seconds left. It was Murray’s 17th 30-point performance of the season. The Nuggets improved to 4-0 when he scores 40 or more.
Jokic fighting his own battles
Three minutes into the game, Jokic was visibly frustrated as George fronted him in the post, hooked the big man’s legs from behind and backed up into his space. While the Nuggets turned it over on the other side of the court, Jokic tumbled over the top of George, giving him a piggy-back ride.
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The irony of his frustration in the end was the free-throw discrepancy in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets attempted 21. The Jazz attempted three. It all evened out to 39 per team.
The irony of his game-saving block was that he was especially bad at protecting the rim throughout the night. Utah played a lot of 1-on-1 offense, and George got wherever he wanted on the court for 36 points. The Jazz scored 50 in the paint.
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