A couple of numbers from Sunday’s 109-105 loss to the Utah Jazz at Denver’s Ball Arena stood out to Nuggets coach Michael Malone.

The Nuggets shot 42% on 47 paint looks in the loss, the coach said, while the Jazz hit 40.5% of their 37 3-point looks.

“Our finishing numbers were really bad,” Malone said.

On a positive note, the Nuggets finished with 23 offensive rebounds but went just 6 for 22 on second-chance opportunities, almost neutralizing Denver’s 52-36 rebounding advantage.

“We had chances,” Malone said. “We had looks, but we definitely weren’t able to convert, and they’re a good team.”

The 9-4 Jazz dropped Denver to 6-7 on the season behind 23 points from reserve Jordan Clarkson. Donovan Mitchell, who made just 7 of 20 shots from the field, added 18 points for Utah, which had six players score 11 or more points.

The Nuggets got another MVP-caliber effort from Nikola Jokic, who finished with 35 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. Jamal Murray, the only other Nugget in double figures, scored 24 of his 30 points in the first half and lamented some missed opportunities afterward.

“We just missed some layups,” Murray said. “The second half, to start the quarter, I had like four great looks, four really easy looks to start the quarter, or half, and I just didn’t make them.”

Despite Utah’s 7 for 11 mark from 3-point range in the first quarter, the Jazz led by just a point to start the second quarter. The Nuggets limited the Jazz to 21 points in the second quarter and led by five to start the second half. Utah took the lead for good late in the third quarter when Mitchell was fouled on a 3 and hit all his free throws to give Utah the lead for good. The Nuggets were down one and had a couple of chances to retake the lead in the fourth quarter but couldn’t convert.

“We had 25 more shots than them,” Jokic said. “We just didn’t make it. That’s a really good team. I don’t want to say we’re supposed to win. They were playing better, we just had a lot of chances.”

Utah center Rudy Gobert, the NBA’s two-time Defensive Player of the Year, got a lot of credit for altering some of the Nuggets’ looks around the rim.

“When you play against some of those guys, sometimes you’re looking around, you’re anticipating, you rush. Maybe some of it was a lack of focus. We work on finishing a lot in practice. I’m always telling our guys to take pride in our finishing and tonight was a really tough night in that regard — in the paint and on those offensive rebounds,” Malone said. “Our guys played hard as hell tonight. I’m proud of the effort. I’m proud of our guys. Obviously it always sucks to lose a tough loss to a division opponent. That team is playing very well. It wasn’t from a lack of effort, but you’ve got to be able to convert and finish some of those.”

The Nuggets will look to get back to .500 against Oklahoma City on Tuesday.