Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 122-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.

1. “Winning is boring”

With Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, Jordan Clarkson, Kyle Filipowski, Taylor Hendricks and Cody Williams out tonight, the Jazz would still have a tough time against a good Nuggets team. This talent gap was clearly reflected in today’s event.

But against all odds, the Jazz had actually kept it close for most of the first half, thanks to the pretty relentless attack of Jamal Murray on defense. And then everything unfolded relatively quickly and from a seemingly harmless incident.

Michael Porter Jr. had a pretty thunderous transition dunk with about a minute left in the half. (I wish I could show you a video, but the NBA’s play video cuts that out. If you have access to a replay of the game, watch the 1:16 mark of the second quarter.) After he did it had dunked, he did it somehow and protected the ball from bouncing, just classic gamesmanship. Keyonte George pushes into Porter to get the ball back.

George then spends the next possession transferring the switch to Porter so he can attack. He does and the result is this shot:

It’s the lowest shooting percentage possible and it goes past an open shooter in Svi Mykhailiuk behind him.

The Nuggets then have the ball in transition and George grabs Porter. for defense. Porter, recognizing the discrepancy, fights George to get a position down. Ultimately, the Nuggets go elsewhere and miss, but George is no match for Porter on the defensive line and gets the slight setback.

The next Jazz possession is a quick two-on-one shot from Collin Sexton followed by a layup from Jokic. But on the ensuing possession at the end of the half, George tries again to win the match against Porter, succeeds, and then takes him on again. This time it’s a pull-up threesome that’s missed.

It’s only three possessions, but I think George outplayed the Jazz’s game plan three times in one minute. This left them trailing by 10 points at halftime and not in the thick of things.

Certainly George isn’t the only young jazz player who occasionally loses his balance. But getting out of the system is a big reason why the Jazz have such lulls where they lose track of the game and are out of touch.

“I’ll tell you what I told the team: Winning is boring,” Will Hardy told reporters afterward. “And to win, you have to be willing to do simple things over and over again for 48 minutes, and that can get repetitive at times and, frankly, boring.”

It’s not that George didn’t try hard enough – it’s that he tried too hard and was too competitive. It’s completely understandable what happened. But finding that next level of consistency and maturity will help young players like George and, in turn, the Jazz.

2. Oscar Tshiebwe gets a chance

Thanks to all of the aforementioned injuries, Oscar Tshiebwe was called up to play for the Jazz today – his 25th birthday.

Oscar Tshiebwe is known to be one of the best people in basketball. He first gained this reputation in the college game, where he debuted for West Virginia before playing for Kentucky. There he was named National Player of the Year by Sporting News thanks to his excellent points and rebound values.

By the way, the rebound is absurdly special. He averaged 22 rebounds per 36 minutes in his G League career. Are you kidding me? He only had nine boards in his time of 15:39 today, which equates to just 20.3 rebounds per 36 minutes. I joked during the game that Tshiebwe and Nikola Jokic (currently leading the NBA in rebounding) were the two best rebounders in basketball – but there’s a good chance that’s actually true.

Tshiebwe seemed a little out of sorts today, which was understandable as he was informed in the middle of the Stars’ practice this afternoon and was told to stop because he was playing for the Jazz tonight. He never really shot from the floor, although he did score three points on three free throws. He had a turnover, but was also able to record a few steals with his 7-4 wingspan. He was fine.

But the game also provided the opportunity to speak to Tshiebwe after the game, which is always a pleasure.

“I always tell people that I am the light, so I bring the light,” Tshiebwe said. “The aim of light is to make everyone happy and motivated and to do good. Sometimes you can help someone just by smiling.”

“I love everything about Oscar. Man, he just makes you feel good. He’s such a good person. I wish I was more like Oscar,” Hardy said. “He’s like the sweetest person ever.”

If the season doesn’t play a big role and the power forwards are all injured anyway – then I’m glad Oscar gets the chance.

3. Minnesota’s early start to the season

The Minnesota Timberwolves are 8-10 and in 12th place in the Western Conference. They have lost four times in a row.

The quotes from today’s defeat were rough. Anthony Edwards could not have expressed his criticism of the team more clearly. From Chris Hine of the Minnesota Star-Tribune:

• “No matter how many of us there are, all 15 of us, we crawl into our own shells and just distance ourselves from each other. It’s obvious,” Edwards said. “We can see it. I can see it, the team can see it, the coaches can see it. The fans… boo us. This…is crazy, man. We get booed in our home arena.”

• “As a team, we are incredibly soft internally. Not to the other team, but internally we’re soft,” Edwards said. “We can’t talk to each other. Just a bunch of little kids. Just like we play with a few small children. Everyone, the whole team. We just can’t talk to each other. And we have to figure it out because we can’t go down that path.”

• “We’re just so negative right now. “It’s been like that for us the last couple of years,” Edwards said, gesturing to indicate the team was close. “And I just feel like we’ve gradually grown apart, which is the craziest thing because most of us have been together before. We have two new players, that’s all. Everyone else was together.”

• “We have to start doing what the coaches say, we always have something to say,” Edwards said. “…We should do this, and we do something different. We should be in this coverage doing something different.”

• “As a person who is supposed to help figure things out, sometimes it’s difficult,” Edwards said. “Because you look at everyone and everyone has a different agenda. It’s like, “What… should I say?” You know what I mean. I’m trying to get better at that and figure out what the hell to say to get everyone on the same agenda.”

So, uh, that’s not good for the wolves. If you felt memories there of the 2021-22 Utah Jazz team, when Rudy Gobert and a young star athletic guard were spitting out snipers, so to speak, somehow not through the media as the team underperformed…well, then they are You’re not the only one. This time, however, the chaos is in the Jazz’s favor, as the Jazz essentially own the Wolves’ draft for the next five years.

Thanks to the miserable Eastern Conference, being the fourth-worst team in the West is actually only enough for the No. 11 draft slot. Still, that increases the Jazz’s chances of taking Cooper Flagg at No. 1 by 2% and 10%, respectively, if the season ends today.

That’s obviously not the case, and Wolves could well turn the situation around. But in a difficult season for the Jazz, the Wolves’ scuffle may be the most positive news for the franchise we’ve seen in the last month, especially in the long run.

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