National Basketball Association
Utah 108, Denver 104
When: 10:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Where: Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah
Officials: #64 Justin Van Duyne, #16 David Guthrie, #37 Eric Dalen
Attendance: 18306

Trent Forrest scored 18 points with eight assists to help the Utah Jazz snap a five-game losing streak with a 108-104 win over the Denver Nuggets in a battle of short-handed teams late Wednesday in Salt Lake City.

Six Jazz players scored in double figures as they held off a Nuggets team that shot 53.2 percent on the second night of a back-to-back set.

Mike Conley scored 17 points with five assists and four steals, and Bojan Bogdanovic hit two big free throws and grabbed a key rebound in the final 10.8 seconds as Utah won for just the third time in 14 games.

Bryn Forbes came off the bench to lead the Nuggets in scoring with 26 points.

As has happened so often around the NBA this season, both teams were missing key players.

Denver was missing six players, including Nikola Jokic (toe), DeMarcus Cousins (foot) and Aaron Gordon (hamstring). The Jazz lost Joe Ingles this week with a season-ending knee injury, and were also without All-Star combo Rudy Gobert (calf) and Donovan Mitchell (concussion protocol), Danuel House Jr. (health and safety protocol), Hassan Whiteside (back) and Jordan Clarkson (knee). Coach Quin Snyder was also absent due to COVID-19.

A Will Barton layup tied the game at 97-97 with 3:57 remaining.

Rudy Gay, who scored 15, turned momentum in Utah's favor with back-to-back buckets, giving the Jazz a four-point lead with under three minutes left.

Forbes scored to bring the Jazz's lead back down to two, but Conley then banked in a long jumper. Forrest and Royce O'Neale, who also had 15 points, finished off a 9-2 surge with free throws as Utah increased its lead to 106-99 at the 1:07 mark.

Denver crept back within two after Forbes hit a floater with 18.9 seconds to play.

Bogdanovic, whom Denver coach Michael Malone said could be the captain of a "Nuggets killers" team in his pregame remarks, clinched the game with his free throws and rebound.

Neither team could pull away after taking leads in the first half. The Jazz went up 19-10 only to see that lead fade away following a 9-0 Nuggets run, which propelled Denver to nab a seven-point advantage in the second quarter and a 61-60 halftime lead.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Denver   Utah
Bryn Forbes 26 Scoring Trent Forrest 18
Nah'Shon Hyland 7 Assists Trent Forrest 8
Will Barton 9 Rebounds Udoka Azubuike 10
Bryn Forbes 2 Free Throws Made Bojan Bogdanovic 5
JaMychal Green 2 Steals Mike Conley 4
Will Barton 3 Blocks Udoka Azubuike 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Denver 104 53.2 11-28 9-12 24 39 7 5 14
Utah 108 48.8 7-29 17-22 21 37 4 8 8
Upcoming Games
  • Utah will play their next game at home against Brooklyn. The Jazz have a W/L % of .677 after a win and .476 after a loss.
  • Denver will play their next game at home against New Orleans. The Nuggets have a W/L % of .552 after a win and .545 after a loss.