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The Nuggets might’ve been guilty of coasting Monday, but they could afford to coast.
Scoring the first 19 points of the game and leading by 25 after the first quarter, Denver bounced back from its largest loss of the season with a 135-112 blowout win over the Jazz at Ball Arena.
The Nuggets (21-7) haven’t lost consecutive games yet this year. They’re about to play 10 of their next 13 on the road, including a back-to-back Tuesday in Dallas.
Jamal Murray led all scorers with 27 on Monday, but this was a comprehensive team win. Peyton Watson added 20 points on nine shots in his return from a trunk injury that sidelined him for the last two games. Cam Johnson made all six of his 3-pointers. Nikola Jokic had a triple-double five minutes into the third quarter, on his way to 14 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.
Utah pushed the deficit inside of 20 points a couple of times, but Denver’s dominant start was more than enough to handle business against a division foe.
Jokic started the onslaught with a pair of jump shots. Then Murray and Watson joined in. Watson reached double figures about five minutes into the game. It took Utah another three minutes after that to get to 10 as a team.
The Nuggets scored 15 fast-break points in the first quarter alone. They shot 9 of 14 from deep and assisted on 13 of their 15 total made shots. The Jazz put up nine more field goal attempts than Denver in the frame but still trailed 40-15 when the dust settled.
The 19-0 run fell just short of Denver’s season-best 20 consecutive points in a win at Atlanta.
The Nuggets were fresh off their least efficient offensive game under new head coach David Adelman, a 115-101 loss to Houston that featured season-lows in points and field goal percentage (40.2%). They could’ve used some of their shot-making Monday in that slugfest. They converted a season-high 24 buckets outside the arc. It was their third time this year making 22 or more, aided by a 6-for-11 push from Tim Hardaway Jr. off the bench.
He came alive in the second half to hold off Utah’s best comeback efforts. All-Star candidate Lauri Markkanen was back in the Jazz’s lineup after missing the last two games, and he put up 27 points and eight boards in the loss.
“It’s very challenging, not to mention where he shoots the ball from,” Adelman said. “Jokic is like that, too. Once he gets to his spot, that’s it. We just had to deal with Kevin Durant for two games last week, and you have to do your work early with a guy like Lauri. Just with the size and the touch and the way he shoots it, everything has to happen before he can get there. You can’t hope you can contest late with him. Special player, unique player.”
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Bennett Durando
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