SALT LAKE CITY — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 106-96 win over the Denver Nuggets from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. Defense smothers Nuggets in second half

What a turnaround for the Jazz. Despite trailing by 15 points midway through the third quarter, the Jazz turned it around with a defensively-insane 25-4 run at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth to eventually earn a 16 point lead.

There were so many good defensive performances during that stretch, but the biggest share of the credit has to go to three players: Ekpe Udoh, Thabo Sefolosha, and Joe Johnson.

Let's start with Udoh, who really deserves his own full point in this Triple Team. Here is Udoh's boxscore line, you may have to click on it to see it at 100% resolution.

Everything is very pedestrian until you get to the very end: three blocks, and a +24 when he was on the court in only 12:59 of play.

He was sensational. He moves his feet extremely well, pressures without fouling (zero tonight), and is just much, much longer than people expect. This block wasn't in the crucial stretch, but watch how good it is. He gets switched out on Mudiay in the second quarter, moves his feet to stay in front, and then recovers with a last-second lunge towards Emmanuel Mudiay to block his jump shot.

Three plays we're putting in today's Triple Team. First, Ekpe Udoh moving his feet and getting a jump shot block on Mudiay: pic.twitter.com/4QJifMi7KW — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) October 19, 2017

Udoh was a plus-minus genius in his last season in the NBA, with the Clippers, and he's only gotten better. At $3.3 million per year for the next two, he's a steal.

In the first half tonight, the Jazz were getting torched on the perimeter. Gary Harris had 11 points in four shots, and Will Barton was on fire, with 21 points in only eight shots before halftime.

Thabo Sefolosha changed that in the second half. His ball pressure took the Nuggets by surprise, and made them make multiple passes against long-traps, which caused turnovers, which led to easy Jazz points on the other end. He finished as a +25 in 20:30 of play, despite scoring just seven points.

Finally, we don't usually think of Joe Johnson as a defensive genius, but he played a key role tonight. The Nuggets tried to impose huge size on the Jazz by playing Nikola Jokic next to Mason Plumlee on the perimeter. That, Nuggets coach Mike Malone thought, would force Udoh on Plumlee, making Johnson guard Jokic and kicking him out of the game.

But Johnson's individual post defense on Jokic was stellar. Here, Johnson makes the catch difficult, bodies Jokic up on the face-up, keeps a hand in his face as the shot stays high, forces the miss, and then gets the rebound despite being shortest.

Third, Joe Johnson standing up Nikola Jokic, contesting the non-jump-shot, and getting the rebound: pic.twitter.com/ETUcDQggeJ — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) October 19, 2017

It's not an accident that the lineups featuring all three of these players played exactly 4.4 minutes and were a +14 during that time. All three deserve the game ball.

2. Alec Burks back

Of course, the defensive stops would have meant nothing if the offensive side didn't step up their game. In the first three quarters, the Jazz's offense really chugged along slowly, with a lot of missed shots and forced drives. Johnson changed that at first, as he has for his entire 16-year career, with his high-degree-of-difficulty shot making.

But the spotlight belonged to Alec Burks, who showed real scoring ability with a 10-point fourth quarter on 4-4 shooting.

First, he showed off his regained athleticism with this dunk. While just rising up for the corner three would have been a good option, Burks took the dunking-for-two-points door No. 2. (By the way, check out how Udoh makes space for Burks to take off. Plus-minus genius!)

Second, Alec Burks driving to the rim for a baseline dunk. (Look at Udoh make space for him too!) pic.twitter.com/vfmtm9cFGa — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) October 19, 2017

My favorite part about Burks' game coming off of his injuries has been his very solid 3-point shooting. He was 2-2 tonight, and 20-38 during the preseason. So long as he's taking open ones, Burks has proven to be a good long-distance shooter!

Snyder's favorite part of Burks' game was his defensive effort, which was solid. That's a big change from Burks as a young player, and while he still makes mistakes, they're fewer and further between.

"The adversity has tightened his game up a little bit. I thought he played good defense. I think he’s taken a lot of pride in how he’s defended, and I can’t emphasize that enough," Snyder said. "It’s important to him on the defensive end."

One off the court factor gives me hope that Burks' renaissance is real: his quotes after the game. Burks knows that he can't jump over and through people anymore, that approach was naive. Instead, he has to pick and choose his spots, take good shots when he's open, and make his presence known on the defensive end to earn minutes. Tonight, he got that opportunity and made the most of it.

3. Donovan Mitchell growing pains

Donovan Mitchell made a surprise start tonight after Rodney Hood left the court immediately before tip-off with what Jazz PR called "gastric distress." (As Snyder put it after the game, "I know the layman's term for that.") In 26 minutes on the court, he showed off both his super-high potential and some real growing pains.

First, the highs. This play is not the kind you expect to see from a rookie in his first NBA game:

Donovan Mitchell with the Rondo fake! Breh is gonna crash the all Rookie first team. pic.twitter.com/3NDD2Wskgc — Wilt Caineberlain (@CaineLovesCali) October 19, 2017

Mitchell had four assists as well, including a nice 40-foot one from one side of the court to the other for a wide-open Joe Ingles three. He also really competed on the defensive end, trying to get over every screen and just generally being aggressive. His teammates love him for that.

But the lows were rough. Mitchell took 11 shots tonight, second-most on the team beyond Derrick Favors. And a lot of those shots were ill-advised, getting blocked or just being taken despite better options.

Part of Mitchell's problem is that he's not very good at jumping off of one foot, which means he's more liable to get blocked if the timing isn't right. When he is in that traffic, Mitchell needs to kick the ball out or find a dump off pass to get a teammate a better look.

"Playing point guard in an NBA game when you haven’t done it before is not easy. Johnnie Bryant will show him the film, and we’ll point a few things out to him," Snyder said. "He took a long two at the end of the second quarter when he should be taking a three or going to the rim. There’s a lot of little things."

But he still shows a ton of potential in being willing to take those shots. He's going to be a big part of the second unit's scoring this season (along with Burks), especially if he can quickly round out the decision-making edges.

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