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October 7, 2026 at 4:53 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Nuggets Fix the Shooting and Beat Jazz 117-106 in Preseason Rematch

A week after a 109-97 preseason opener loss to Utah, Denver found its offense and won 117-106 in Salt Lake City behind a 41-point second quarter.

DEN 117, UTA 106. Photo: Yahoo Sports.
DEN 117, UTA 106. Photo: Yahoo Sports.

Denver arrived in Utah carrying the memory of its preseason opener, a 109-97 loss to the Jazz in which very little went right. The Nuggets answered with a 117-106 win in the rematch, an 11-point margin that was never especially tense and never quite put away until late.

The opener was ugly mostly at the offensive end. Denver shot 40% from the field, 28% from three and 67% at the free-throw line, numbers that David Adelman did not wave off afterward. Misses at the line are the kind of thing a coach notices even in October. This time the ball went through the rim far more often, and the second quarter, which produced 41 Denver points, was where the game tilted.

Nobody in either locker room was going to pretend this carried real weight. Preseason results rarely do, and the Nuggets still preferred not to open the exhibition schedule 0-2. Adelman had also offered a practical explanation for the first loss: the playbook was built around the starting group, so the young players and the bench were running sets that did not fit them. That made for a stilted night, and it made the rematch a better test of whether the fixes would hold.

The opener also left a lopsided picture of the roster. Nikola Jokic took just one shot, and Jamal Murray did not play, so the scoring burden fell to players who are fighting for minutes rather than setting the tone. Winning the second game, even with the same caveats attached, gave those players a cleaner night to point to. For a team with this many rotation questions, that counts for something, even in October.

Denver finally found the basket, and the Jazz found a 117-106 loss Photo: Yahoo Sports.
Denver finally found the basket, and the Jazz found a 117-106 loss Photo: Yahoo Sports.
Denver wins 117-106, and somehow both teams still act like it counted Photo: Yahoo Sports.
Denver wins 117-106, and somehow both teams still act like it counted Photo: Yahoo Sports.

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