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October 5, 2026 at 5:14 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Jazz Take Denver's Preseason Opener, 109-97

Utah beat the Nuggets by 12 in Denver on Sunday night, in the first preseason game of the year for the home team.

Jazz and Nuggets battle at the rim.
Jazz and Nuggets battle at the rim.

The Utah Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets 109-97 on Sunday, October 4, in a preseason game at Ball Arena. Twelve points is a clear margin, and Utah held onto it against a Denver team still getting its bearings.

The game was the Nuggets' first of the preseason, their first look at the new season in any form. Openers like this are mostly about working through a rotation and seeing how things fit. A loss carries little weight in October, though a 12-point one at home will probably get a look on film.

The previews leading in pointed to a few Nuggets and a few storylines worth following, but none of them came with specifics, and the game did not settle the question on its own. Denver was the team under the microscope, as a team opening its preseason at home tends to be. Utah, for its part, came in shorthanded, with three players ruled out on the injury report before the game. The Jazz won anyway.

The usual pregame material was out in force: tip times, viewing information, odds and picks for anyone tracking the line. None of that matters much now that the score is final. Jazz 109, Nuggets 97, and Denver gets its next preseason test with a bit more to sort out than it had on Saturday.

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