DENVER — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 105-91 loss to the Denver Nuggets from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. Jazz now on 4 game losing streak

Yes, the Jazz are injured, without George Hill and Derrick Favors, and sure let's throw Alec Burks in there too. Yes, the Jazz were on a back-to-back tonight, and have had a tough early schedule.

But losing by 14 points to a 4-8 Denver team that shot just 13-30 from the free throw line is a bad sign. And you could excuse it as just one of the things that happens over the rigors of an 82-game schedule if it hadn't just happened four games in a row.

"No one cares about that stuff. No one cares," Quin Snyder said about the schedule after the game.

The offense is stalling, especially early in games. Without Derrick Favors, they're really reliant on Gordon Hayward, Rodney Hood, and Trey Lyles hitting outside shots, which they didn't do, and haven't been doing with much success.

Bigs are dropping off and protecting the paint on pick and rolls, but the Jazz aren't attacking that, instead taking advantage of the space that the defense provides by getting off a shot. This is usually the right idea! But what the Jazz aren't doing at all is using the attention that pick and rolls attract to get open looks on the weakside through cuts and passes. While the Jazz ended up with 15 assists tonight, they had exactly zero through the first quarter, and that's one big reason why.

And defense has been a problem too. The Jazz's preferred lineups, with enough of their difference-making defenders (read: George Hill, Dante Exum, Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert) are really good. But as soon as you get some of the iffy defenders (read: Shelvin Mack, Boris Diaw, Joe Ingles, this season's Jeff Withey) out there, then the rotations and toughness and individual defense fall apart.

That's what Snyder was most disappointed with an a pretty fiery postgame presser: that the units haven't stuck together defensively at all. That could be a constant, even as the offense struggles. It hasn't been.

2. It's time to give Raul Neto a chance

Raul Neto is a limited player. He's just 6-foot-1, 180 pounds. He's not very athletic, which means he has trouble finishing among the trees. Defenses feel comfortable sagging off of him, and while his shooting is better than expected, he's not much of a threat on the pick and roll or after a heavy closeout.

But the good thing is that he's at least aware of these liabilities. He generally makes the right pass. He doesn't take very many shots. He turns the ball over at a medium rate. He uses his peskiness defensively to create steals, and generally stays in front of his man.

These are not things that Shelvin Mack does, unfortunately. There's no doubt that Mack is more of an offensive threat than Neto. But man, that comes at a high cost. He's using a ton of possessions, over 21 percent of them, taking chances away from his more skilled teammates. He turns the ball over frequently, 4.7 times per 100 possessions this season. He's shooting over 18 shots per 100 possessions when he's on the floor, and he's only converting at 42 percent from the field and 31 percent from three. When he drives, it's clear that he drives without a plan beyond his own shot.

The defense is a problem too. He gets blown by frequently, often makes mistakes in rotation, trapping, and switching, and is fouling at a rate of 4.9 fouls per 100 possessions (that's a lot). Backcuts seem to be a particular problem. I'll admit: it's possible that I am noticing these things with Mack more frequently because of my offensive frustrations with him. There are times when his size is an advantage, but I struggle to believe that those times outweigh his struggles on both ends of the floor.

And in the end, choosing Neto over Mack is a vote for Hood, Joe Johnson, Joe Ingles, and the rest of the Jazz's bench crew to get more offensive possessions than they currently get with Mack on the floor. That just seems like a good move.

3. Playing with anger

Rudy Gobert was called with two iffy (read: incorrectly called) fouls in the first quarter. He got a technical foul after he hit the stanchion then, picked up his third foul on a weird flagrant call in the second. It limited Gobert to under 10 minutes of play in the first half.

Then, in the second half, Gobert played angrily. He played through Denver physical play, clearly mad at the lack of respect from the officials. He got some hard rebounds against Jusuf Nurkic, and bodied up the more weighty Denver centers. Gobert gives the Jazz some obvious emotion, while Hayward and Hood are more naturally stoic.

They won't take that fire away... Let's bounce back Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/FtQFfzbBT0 — Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) November 21, 2016

Tonight's game was refereed by Bennie Adams, Pat Fraher, and Tyler Ford. Adams has a reputation for making some confusing calls, which is an unfortunate reputation for an NBA referee to have. Tonight, though, I was more irked with his no-calls. He blew his whistle just 12 times all night.

In some respects, it was nice to see the Jazz still fighting, down big margins throughout the second half. They clearly turned up the defensive aggressiveness in the third and fourth period, and that they care on a Sunday back-to-back against Denver is a plus. I know, that's not a very high bar, but it's something that some teams don't do after getting down early.

They've got two days off to figure out both sides of the ball before playing Denver again Wednesday. We'll see what changes between now and then.

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