Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — C.J. Miles was all smiles after the Jazz’s 107-94 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday night.
He had every reason to be. Miles and his current Jazz teammates rolled the Nets and several of his former Jazz teammates in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score.
“That’s the next step for us to get to that point where we come out and not just expecting to beat people, but coming out and doing the job and getting it done,” Miles said to reporters after the game.
Miles scored 17 points off the bench for the Jazz. Al Jefferson added 20 points, Paul Millsap 18, and Raja Bell chipped in with 12 as the Jazz spoiled the returns of former Jazz players Deron Williams, Mehmet Okur, Kris Humphries, DeShawn Stevenson and Sandiata Gaines.
With the win, the Jazz are now 7-4 on the season, 6-1 at home and are ready to take an emotional win with them on the road to Denver in a rematch against a Nuggets team that beat them handily in their first matchup, a 117-100 loss in Denver on Dec. 28th.
When questioned about the matchup against the Nuggets, Jazz center Jefferson said he believes his team is better than the first time the two teams played.
“If we played every game the way we played against the Lakers every night, we wouldn’t lose many games,” Jefferson said. “So we had the attitude, let’s go play like we played the Lakers. Like I said against the Lakers, we’re a different team then when we were the first time we played them.”
The Nuggets (8-4) are coming off a big 117-104 victory over Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat, a game in which Denver controlled from start to finish. Ty Lawson scored 24 points and added nine assists as the Nuggets ran the Heat out of the gym, beating the Heat for the 10th consecutive time in Denver.
“This was a tough one tonight,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said after the Heat’s loss to the Nuggets. “Sometimes you’re never quite as good as you think you are or as bad as you think you are. They play well here. They’re relentless in the open court."
Lawson leads the Nuggets in scoring at 17.1 points per game and is one of five Denver players who average double figures in scoring. Nene has been a force in the paint for the Nuggets this season, averaging 12 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per contest.
The Jazz will need to establish themselves defensively against one of the NBA’s highest-scoring teams.
“It starts with defense,” said Jefferson. “When you get turnovers, turnovers lead to fast breaks and to easy baskets and that gets our confidence up and opens up everything.”
Tonight’s game starts at 6 p.m. and can be seen on Root Sports.
Jarrod is a freelance writer who writes Jazz previews for KSL.com. You can follow Jarrod Hiatt on Twitter at @jarrodhiatt.
