NBA: Jazz edge Nuggets to end 5-game skid
Mike Conley #11 of the Utah Jazz and Royce O’Neale #23 of the Utah Jazz talk during the second half against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum on January 28, 2022 in Memphis, Tennessee. Justin Ford/Getty Images/AFP
Utah Jazz snapped a five-game losing streak with a 108-104 win over the Denver Nuggets in a battle of short-handed teams late Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
Trent Forrest scored 18 points with eight assists as six Jazz players scored in double figures to hold off a Nuggets team that shot 53.2 percent on the second night of a back-to-back set.
Article continues after this advertisementMike Conley scored 17 points with five assists and four steals, and Bojan Bogdanovic hit two big free throws and grabbed a key rebound in the final 10.8 seconds as Utah won for just the third time in 14 games.
Bryn Forbes came off the bench to lead the Nuggets in scoring with 26 points.
As has happened so often around the NBA this season, both teams were missing key players.
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— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 3, 2022
Denver was missing six players, including Nikola Jokic (toe), DeMarcus Cousins (foot) and Aaron Gordon (hamstring). The Jazz lost Joe Ingles this week with a season-ending knee injury, and were also without All-Star combo Rudy Gobert (calf) and Donovan Mitchell (concussion protocol), Danuel House Jr. (health and safety protocol), Hassan Whiteside (back) and Jordan Clarkson (knee). Coach Quin Snyder was also absent due to COVID-19.
A Will Barton layup tied the game at 97-97 with 3:57 remaining.
Rudy Gay, who scored 15, turned momentum in Utah’s favor with back-to-back buckets, giving the Jazz a four-point lead with under three minutes left.
Forbes scored to bring the Jazz’s lead back down to two, but Conley then banked in a long jumper. Forrest and Royce O’Neale, who also had 15 points, finished off a 9-2 surge with free throws as Utah increased its lead to 106-99 at the 1:07 mark.
Denver crept back within two after Forbes hit a floater with 18.9 seconds to play.
Bogdanovic, whom Denver coach Michael Malone said could be the captain of a “Nuggets killers” team in his pregame remarks, clinched the game with his free throws and rebound.
Neither team could pull away after taking leads in the first half. The Jazz went up 19-10 only to see that lead fade away following a 9-0 Nuggets run, which propelled Denver to nab a seven-point advantage in the second quarter and a 61-60 halftime lead.
