By Stefan Djordjevic/ sdjordjevic@eurohoops.net
The Utah Jazz had been on an 11-game winning streak before arriving in Denver and the Nuggets, on the head with a superb Nikola Jokic, put a stop to it with 128-117 on the scoreboard.
Jokic was dominating the floor from the very start as he banked in 22 points already in the first quarter and 33 for the half. With the Serbian big at the top of his game, it came as no surprise that the Nuggets scored 79 points before the break and were up by 25 (79-54).
Jokic drops 22 points in the first quarter against Utah. And he makes it look easy…pic.twitter.com/FQDqbMYnBf
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) January 31, 2021
Utah woke up after the locker room rest and cut the gap to eight points (99-91) in the third quarter thanks to Bojan Bogdanovic who went off and finished with 29 points on 5-10 from deep.
However, Jokic didn’t let himself slow down and pushed Denver back up again on his way to 47 points, tying his career-high. His points came from 17-26 from the field including 4-4 from the three-point range.
He also logged 11 rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block in the 36 minutes he spent on the floor.
Will Barton helped out with 18 points while Jamala Murray had 16 and Facundo Campazzo 11 points (plus five assists).
Jordan Clarkson and Donovan Mitchell scored 13 each for the Jazz followed by Rudy Gobert with 12 points and eight boards.