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Denver • If Derrick Favors worked in the cubicle next to yours, you would have been beyond annoyed to see him show up to the office Wednesday.
"I had to keep blowing my nose all the time. I had to go in the back and get tissues and stuff to get the mucus out," he said. "It's nasty stuff."
But when Favors, 6-foot-10 power forward and rising NBA star, is the guy in the locker next to yours, you're glad to see him there. And despite dealing with "flu-like symptoms" the past few days, Favors isn't the type of guy to miss work. On Wednesday night, Favors started and played 25 minutes, scoring six points with team highs in rebounds (10) and steals (4) in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
"Fav's tough," Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "I think if you saw him [after that game], he was drained. He found energy at various times during the game. … It's a long season and he's going to give us everything he's got and that's all he can do."
Favors took some medication for a headache and congestion and expected to need a few more tissues, but said he had "not really" considered the possibility of sitting one out.
So despite still feeling ill Thursday, Favors was back in the Jazz's starting lineup against the Denver Nuggets and gave the Jazz what he could. The forward played 15 minutes in the first half, scoring six points before having to sit out the rest of the game.
"It was definitely tough," Favors, looking and sounding like a man under the weather, said before tipoff Thursday. "I just want to be out there for my teammates. But it was definitely tough. I had to find some way to find some energy and just bring some energy out there-but I'm trying to fight through it."
And as for his teammates?
"I hope they stay away from me," he said, "so they don't get sick."
Bench punch
Coming off the bench in a bad loss to Portland, Trey Burke and Alec Burks stood out. Burke scored 17 points and Burks finished with 21 points, mostly thanks to earning 15 trips to the free throw line.
After ranking among the bottom of the league in bench scoring last season at 29.2 points per game, the Jazz reserves are averaging 35.5 this season. Burke and Burks had combined to average 26.5 points coming into Thursday night.
"That's one of the reasons Trey is where he is coming off the bench, because we think he can do that," Snyder said. "He's fulfilling that role very well as is Alec. We've got a few other guys that are finding their way just like our team is."
Draft night steal
The lopsided trade that brought Rudy Gobert to the Jazz feels even more so now.
Utah gave the Denver Nuggets $3 million and a second-round pick on draft night in 2013 for Gobert, the 27th overall pick. The Nuggets used that second-rounder on guard Erick Green. But on Thursday, Denver waived Green, who appeared in 46 games for the Nuggets, averaging 3.2 points per game.
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