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Steve RichardsESPN
Someone finally defeated the Utah Jazz, and it took a herculean effort from one of the best NBA bigwigs to do so. Nikola Jokic equaled his career record with 47 points and the Denver Nuggets made a torrid first half to emphatically end Utah’s 11-game winning streak with a 128-113 victory on Sunday in Denver.
Jokic and the Nuggets fired through the gates, with the Joker scoring 22 points in the first quarter and 33 before the break. Jokic’s 33 points in the first half were his biggest points in a while and the maximum in the first half of an NBA game this season. It was also the first time with the highest score for a Nuggets player since Allen Iverson scored 33 on December 5, 2007, according to the ESPN Stats & Information poll.
Entering Sunday, only two players scored at least 33 points against Jazz in an entire game this season: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jokic himself on January 17, both scoring 35.
In addition to his 47 points (out of 17 out of 26 shots), Jokic had 12 rebounds for his 20th consecutive double-double at the start of the season, the second longest since the NBA / ABA merger, according to ESPN Stats & Research Information. Antetokounmpo did this in 19 consecutive games at the beginning of last season. Jokic has a way to go to reach the best mark, however, as Bill Walton double-doubled in 34 consecutive games at the start of the 1976-77 season.
“I’m very happy that we won the game,” said Jokic in an interview after the game on Nuggets’ Altitude TV. “They are playing incredibly well, they have 11 consecutive wins and they are kicking very well. It is a very good victory for us.”
Asked if he was looking to shoot more, Jokic said: “It depends. It depends on what kind of game it is, how I feel. It’s not that I get into the game and think, I’m going to do it, I’m just trying to see what the game brings me . “
Denver had 15 of 17 in 3-point shots in the first half and maintained a 79 to 54 lead in the interval. Will Barton hit all five of his attempts, Jokic was perfect in four attempts and Paul Millsap made it 2 in 2. The Nuggets 88.2% mark was the best percentage of any team in half with a minimum of 15 attempts in at least the last 20 seasons, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau. Denver ended the game on 18 of 28 beyond the hoop.
Coincidentally, the 3 points were one of the keys to Utah’s success during its winning streak. Jazz tied the NBA record with its 10th straight game, with at least 15 long balls on Sunday.
Jazz, who had the NBA’s best record with 15-4, extended his winning streak to 11, despite not having Donovan Mitchell in the last two games, as he was in the concussion protocol. Mitchell came back on Sunday, but it didn’t matter.
During its 11-game winning streak, Jazz beat their opponents by an average of 117 to 101, and they also lost by only 57 seconds in the fourth period during the race. But on Sunday, Utah took its only advantage at 9:23 in the first quarter. Millsap hit a 3 for Denver 18 seconds later, and Jazz trailed the rest of the way. Utah was left with only one digit in the third quarter, but Denver declined in the fourth.
“I didn’t think we had the advantage that we had defensively,” Utah coach Quin Snyder said in his post-game videoconference. “We took our hat off to Denver for making these moves, of course. We held on and reduced the lead to one digit, but you give yourself a very, very difficult hill to climb and a small margin of error. You have to be almost perfect in that Score.”