This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Denver • Their road trip began with a mechanical problem on their plane, which kept the Utah Jazz stuck on an airport runway for hours. As it turns out, it ended with them missing a key piece of luggage.

Defense travels, is a popular saying around the Jazz locker room, but on Monday night it looked like they forgot to pack it.

The Jazz were picked apart in a 105-91 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center, Utah's fourth consecutive defeat.

"When you're a little undermanned and you're tired and you've sat on the runway you've done this and done that and it's a back-to-back, no one cares about that stuff," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "No one cares. We shouldn't care either. We should just buckle down and be more disciplined and more focused on the defensive end."

The loss dropped the Jazz to 7-8 on the young season. But a mile high, it felt like a low point for a team with lofty expectations for this season.

Yes, they were playing on the road. Yes, they had played the night before a thousand miles away. And yes, they were still missing a pair of their most productive players. Even so, Sunday night presented them with a chance to snap an early-season losing streak, a winnable game against an unproven Denver Nuggets squad.

They never really came close.

The Jazz mustered just 14 first-quarter points and fell behind by as much as 20 during the contest — all this against a Denver defense that hasn't done much stopping this year. The Nuggets are ranked 15th in the NBA defensively and had only held one other team under 100 points in 12 games this season.

But Snyder wasn't focused on his team's 38.8 percent field goal shooting. Nor was he interested much in talking about Gordon Hayward's 25-point night, a relative breakout considering the Jazzman's recent slump.

"We just need to focus on the group and the group needs to focus on defense," Snyder said. "We've always been about playing defense. When all those other things are going well, that's what you fall back on and we have to remind ourselves of that."

It certainly wasn't at the front of their minds Monday, as Denver's Wilson Chandler punctured the Jazz defense for 17 points or as forward Danilo Gallinari stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

The Jazz were hampered certainly by center Rudy Gobert's early foul trouble. The 7-footer picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter, followed shortly thereafter by his first technical of the season, and was quickly called to the bench. In his absence, Denver big man Jusuf Nurkic went to work and finished his shift with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The Jazz trailed by as much as 20 before making a late push. But any chance of a fourth-quarter comeback was dashed as Denver rookie Jamal Murray scored 16 of his team-high 18 points in the final frame.

"Every game for us is a winnable game," Gobert said. "But if we don't play like we're supposed to, we can lose to anybody also."

The Jazz are still a top-10 defense in the NBA. They have held opponents to about 101 points per 100 possessions. Teams have averaged just 95.1 points per game against the Jazz, the lowest number in the league. But the Nuggets hit 105 and their output could have been even greater had they not shot a miserable 43 percent from the free-throw line.

The Jazz will get a chance at a rematch soon. Their next game will be Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, when they will host the Nuggets at Vivint SmartHome Arena.

Snyder knows what his team's focus needs to be already.

"Defense," he said. "That's who we are, that's our identity."

afalk@sltrib.com Twitter: @aaronfalk —

Storylines

R Jazz forward Gordon Hayward scores a game-high 25 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the field. Jazzmen Rodney Hood, Dante Exum and Joe Johnson chip in 10 points apiece in the losing effort.

• Denver rookie Jamal Murray scores 16 of his team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Nuggets secure their fifth win of the year.

More coverage • Utah's Rudy Gobert is leading the NBA in "screen assists." > B5