SALT LAKE CITY — Three thoughts about the Jazz's 108-83 win over the Denver Nuggets from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. What a difference a few days make

Remember, the Jazz faced this same Nuggets team Sunday, when they lost by 14 points in a game Denver shot 13-30 from the line. Since then, a lot of factors have changed:

• The Nuggets were the ones coming off of a back-to-back, not the Jazz.
• The game was played in Salt Lake City, not Denver.
• The Nuggets had Danilo Gallinari available and playing Sunday, but not Wednesday.
• The Jazz had George Hill available and playing Wednesday, but not Sunday.

Okay, okay, that might be going a little bit too far. The Jazz also just played better Wednesday. The biggest difference was at the defensive end.

"I think we played with more juice, we played with a little bounce in our step," Gordon Hayward said. "We made a couple of adjustments, with going under some of the ball screens as opposed to chasing a lot. I think those things contributed."

Snyder agreed. "Our shifts from the weak side, our hits, our denies. We got under on handoffs, so pick and roll defense. It's hard not to improve on the effort we had the other night."

Rudy Gobert was a big part of that. On Sunday, he was chased off the floor early with some foul trouble, but Wednesday, he picked up 19 points, a season-high, while giving the Nuggets next to nothing at the rim. The Nuggets only shot 15-47 from within the paint, for 31 percent. The Jazz also executed better on "digs", where they attack the ball handler in the paint to prevent him from getting easy baskets.

2. George Hill's impact is gigantic

When I asked his teammate George Hill's impact, Hayward gave a huge smile.

"Man, he makes it easier on everybody. It was great to have him out there on the court, and you could see the impact he had on the game. He's a tremendous basketball player on both ends of the floor."

Hayward's had a rough stretch with Hill out since the road trip, and one really big reason is that teams had been leaving the Jazz's point guard in order to hedge harder towards the paint, making Hayward's signature moves and drives harder to complete. (Think, for example, of Hayward's quick stop move that gives him lots of open looks. That doesn't work if a second defender is nearby to help.)

Hill and Hayward co-led the team in scoring with 22 points. Both added five assists; Hayward added seven assists, and Hill picked up three. Those two play off of each other so well, getting open shots for themselves and teammates.

And then Hill's impact defensively is pretty ridiculous as well. Look at Emmanuel Mudiay's stat line: 1-8 shooting for three total points, one assist, no rebounds. His backup, Jameer Nelson, was 0-4 for zero points, two assists, one rebound. And then when Jamal Murray was going off in the third, the Jazz switched Hill onto Murray, and he immediately went quiet. 6-11 shooting became 8-19 shooting very quickly, letting the Jazz run away with the game with no problem.

3. Jazz's power forward options

Boris Diaw had his best game in a Jazz uniform tonight, scoring 11 points and picking up three assists in 22 minutes. I asked him after the game about his play in the first few contests, and he told me that his play was effected by his injury status. Diaw said he still wasn't at 100 percent, but his fibula felt a lot better recently.

It showed against some young Nuggets defenders. Diaw used his collection of spin moves and up-and-unders to score, then even nailed a corner three. On defense, he wasn't ever exploited, which was good.

Boris is DOIN WORK tonight!!! 9 points (3/4 fg), 2 assists and 2 rebounds so far...#OuiOui#DENatUTApic.twitter.com/S1tvSSztsF — Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 24, 2016

He played so much because Trey Lyles got in foul trouble with five fouls in his 14 minutes, but Snyder felt that his fouls were actually a good sign. "He's figuring stuff out. I didn't feel like they were fouls of omission, they were fouls of commission, he was trying to do something right," Snyder said. "As long as he's doing that, he's going to get better."

With Hill back and Derrick Favors out, power forward is still probably the Jazz's weakest spot. But solid play from the two here would help the Jazz immensely.

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