Jazz Defense Wavers in Preseason Loss

The Utah Jazz were firing on all cylinders for the first 12 minutes of Tuesday night's preseason game against the Denver Nuggets, then came back down to earth.

Utah lost 117-106 at the Delta Center in its preseason home opener, and the box score conveys a clear message.

Denver shot 53% from the field, hit 11 of 28 from behind the arc and had the luxury of shooting 42 free throws. The Jazz went 12 of 22 from the charity stripe and shot 12 of 37 from deep.

The most intriguing part of Tuesday's matchup was coach Will Hardy's rotations.

With Jusuf Nurkic out with a right foot injury and Lauri Markkanen sidelined with minor neck soreness, Hardy started Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jaxson Hayes in the frontcourt.

Those two new faces in the starting lineup brought a jolt of energy not seen in Sunday's win. Jackson and Hayes protected the rim using their size and athleticism, being anchors in the paint and allowing Denver to score only 24 points in the first quarter.

It was a small sample size. Jackson and Hayes finished with one block apiece, so it wasn't a show of them batting balls into the first row.

The second quarter showed lapses. Denver scored 41 points and turned a seven-point deficit into a six-point halftime lead. Any momentum Utah had in the first quarter was shot due to the number of fouls that piled up.

Twenty-one of the first half's 30 fouls were called in the second quarter.

In a preseason game, that is just noise, but a 42-to-22 free-throw gap is something Hardy will bring up in the film room.

Keyonte George and Jackson sat out in the second half. The rest of the bench mostly played in the third and fourth quarter, but that is normal in preseason games. Josh Green made his Jazz preseason debut after sitting on Sunday, posting two rebounds and two assists.

The difference with Jackson and Hayes stepping in was visible, and it raises a real roster question in the frontcourt.

Nurkic and Markkanen are among the slower and less consistent defenders on the team.

Last season, the Jazz allowed the most points in the league at 119.1. Markkanen had the fourth-worst defensive rating in the league last season at 123.0. Nurkic had his worst defensive season as a pro last season with a 116.0 rating.

The higher the number, the more points the team gives up when a player is on the floor. Both sit well below average for bigs.

The three-point numbers need work. Twelve of 37 isn't the end of the world in October, but it is a reminder that this young group will live and die by shot-making. It's also worth noting just how much Markkanen's ability to stretch the floor was missed on Tuesday.

Hardy will have to take a deeper look and see which frontcourt duos mesh well with each other, and decide if higher offensive upside trumps poor defensive play.

Utah has five days off before hosting the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, Oct. 12, as the Oct. 21 regular season opener at Memphis inches closer.