Field Level Media
Jamal Murray tied his season-high with 37 points, Nikola Jokic had 26 points and the host Denver Nuggets beat the Utah Jazz 142-121 on Saturday night.
Michael Porter Jr. had 19 points, Christian Braun and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 13 points each and Peyton Watson had 12 points for Denver.
The Nuggets have won eight of nine after the All-Star break and moved into a tie with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second seed in the Western Conference, a half-game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Keyonte George led Utah with 29 points, Jordan Clarkson scored 22 points, John Collins had 19 points, Collin Sexton chipped in 17 and Brice Sensabaugh finished with 16 points for Utah. Walker Kessler grabbed 11 rebounds in the loss.
Utah has lost 10 of 12 since reaching .500 on Feb. 6 and five of its past six. The past two losses have come with leading scorer Lauri Markkanen sidelined with a right quadriceps contusion.
Denver scored the first five points of the game and never relinquished the lead. The Nuggets used a 16-4 run in the first quarter to go ahead 34-16 and led 38-22 after the first 12 minutes.
The Jazz scored the first bucket in the second quarter but Denver dominated the rest of the period behind Murray’s play. He made 5 of 7 shots in the second, including going 3-for-4 from behind the 3-point arc.
His third make from deep put the Nuggets ahead 54-26 with 7:35 left in the first half. Denver kept going, using a 12-1 spurt to go ahead 69-33, and then took its biggest lead of the night, 74-35, on a 3-pointer by Porter.
The Nuggets’ 78-44 halftime lead is the largest in franchise history.
It was a 33-point lead on Caldwell-Pope’s steal and dunk midway through the third but Utah got hot. An 18-1 run cut it to 95-79. After Caldwell-Pope hit a 3-pointer, the Jazz closed the third strong and trailed just 102-88 heading into the fourth.
Braun and Murray each hit 3-pointers early in the fourth to push the lead to 23 points.