Jazz vs Nuggets Preview: Taking on the reigning champions

For the fourth straight game, the Utah Jazz (1-2) will be taking on a projected Western Conference playoff team. This time the opponent is the reigning NBA champions, the Denver Nuggets (3-0).

There’s a clear gap between these two teams. One is expected to defend its recently earned Larry O’Brien Trophy and the other is supposed to end up in the lottery again. But those things were true last year, and the Jazz beat the Nuggets twice last season.

Denver has yet to lose this season and haven’t really had much of a struggle in any of those games, with comfortable wins over the LA Lakers (119-107) and the OKC Thunder (128-95). The Nuggets only beat the Memphis Grizzlies by four (108-104), but did…