Utah Jazz: Team begins slowly, finishes slowly in loss to Nuggets

Williams came out strong in the third quarter after the Jazz fell behind by 20 at halftime, and he finished with 17 points and six assists.

Paul Millsap had a quiet but solid showing with 15 points and eight rebounds as the starting power forward, and Raja Bell had 12 points in his return to the Jazz.

Rookies Jeremy Evans (11 points) and Gordon Hayward (nine points) also saw their first NBA action — and got to play extended minutes because of the blowout.

"It was a tough one for us," Hayward said. "It was tough, really, first game. They came out and jumped on us and put us on our heels, so it's like the whole game we were just trying to claw and get back out of it, and it's hard when you put yourself in a hole like that."

Jefferson is confident the Jazz will rebound at home against Phoenix in a TNT tilt tonight.

"It's disappointing because you hate to lose," Jefferson said of the blowout. "But this don't make me think no different about this team and what we could do.

"We've got 81 more games. We've got one (tonight). We've got to put this one behind us, and I hope we learn from it. We've got to come out and play hard."

Nuggets 110, Jazz 88

Game 1: Wednesday at Denvers Pepsi Center

JAZZ ALMANAC

RECORD: 0-1

HOME: 0-0

AWAY: 0-1

STREAK: L1

TONIGHT

SUNS at JAZZ

8:30 P.M.

(TNT)

GAME NOTES

Utah beat Phoenix twice this preseason, but the teams split their four-games series in 2009-10. ... The Suns walloped the Jazz in the regular-season finale last April at ESA, 100-86, contributing to Utah losing the Northwest Division title and getting a lower playoff seed. ... Steve Nash scored 26 points in Phoenixs season-opening 106-92 loss at Portland on Tuesday.

PROBABLE STARTERS

JAZZ

F A. Kirilenko

(2 ppg, 3 rpg)

F P. Millsap

(15 ppg, 8 rpg)

C A. Jefferson

(6 ppg, 7 rpg)

G D. Williams

(17 ppg, 6 apg)

G R. Bell

(12 ppg, 2 apg)

SUNS

F G. Hill

(4 ppg, 1 rpg)

F H. Turkoglu

(6 ppg, 3 rpg)

C R. Lopez

(5 ppg, 5 rpg)

G S. Nash

(26 ppg, 6 apg)

G J. Richardson

(22 ppg, 1 apg)

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