Jazz shootaround: Utah excited for national TV exposure

The game against the Nuggets will have a special feel to it, and Jazz coach Quin Snyder broke in before the question about it could be finished.

Are the Utah Jazz trying to prove anything on an ESPN-televised game?

“We don’t — no. No, no, no, no,” he said. “We’re not about trying to prove anything. We play 82 games. We want to play well every night. We gotta give [Craig Bolerjack], [Matt] Harpring and those guys a lot more credit than that because they put us on TV all the time.”

While Snyder may not attribute any more importance than usual to the Utah Jazz’s (9-11) game against the Denver Nuggets (11-8), it’s a little different elsewhere. The Jazz are being splashed across ESPN networks and the website ahead of their first major nationally televised game, which doesn’t count a game that aired on NBA TV earlier in the season.

It also means a little more to the families of the players, Rodney Hood said, when his family and friends in Mississippi can watch him play.

“We don’t get a lot of them,” he said. “It’s good for people from your hometown to get a chance to see you play instead of following you on the computer.”

It is an important game for the Jazz, who are looking to keep rolling after back-to-back double-digit wins at home. Denver lost the previous meeting in the season opener, 106-96, on a second-half surge by Utah, but this game will be missing the leading men for both teams. Rudy Gobert still is sitting out, and former Jazzman Paul Millsap will be missing after wrist surgery that is expected to keep him sidelined for the next three months.

It’s a tough break for Denver, but they still have featured big man Nikola Jokic, who averages a double-double and 4.5 assists. Hood also expected Gary Harris and Jamal Murray to play more aggressively to replace Millsap’s scoring load.

“They’ll play more free,” he said, “because they know they need that type of scoring.”