DENVER – Jamal Murray threw the ball to Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone, with mild disgust. Will Barton asked Nikola Jokic to continue scoring until he reached 50 points.
Jokic’s teammates wanted him to reach the mark much more than he did. He was happy that Denver ended Utah Jazz’s 11-game winning streak.
“Hopefully, I’ll score when we need to. It’s just a game,” said Jokic. “The main thing is to win the game. I will score as much as I need to win the game.”
Jokic reached his career record with 47 points, and the Nuggets won Jazz 128-117 on Sunday, ending the longest winning streak of the NBA season.
Jokic hit 17 of 26 on the field, hit all four attempts at 3 points, hit 9 out of 10 free throws and had 12 rebounds and five assists. He scored 33 points in the first half.
With the game less, Jokić went to the bench, unconcerned that he was three points away from hitting 50.
“I told him a few minutes before [to] go get 50. But you know him; he doesn’t care about that kind of thing, “said Barton.” He’s just playing basketball, being aggressive, being who he is. We definitely wanted the big guy to win 5-0 tonight. “
Barton added 18 points, and Murray had 16 to help the Nuggets (12-8) win for the sixth time in seven games.
Utah (15-5) lost for the first time since January 6 at the New York Knicks.
Bojan Bogdanovic led Jazz with 29 points, and Donovan Mitchell had 13 in 31 minutes after losing two games during the concussion protocol.
Denver hit all eight attempts at 3 points and hit 80% in the first quarter. The Nuggets continued to roll in the second half, going 13 of 24 on the field and finishing 15 of 17 long distance in the first half to take the lead from 79 to 54 in the interval.
The Nuggets’ 88.2% mark by far was the NBA’s best 3-point field goal percentage in half (minimum of 15 3-point attempts) over the past 20 seasons, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“We don’t play our best; that’s what hurts, especially the way we’ve played in the last two games against Dallas,” said Mitchell. “Having that performance and they go out and shoot 15 out of 17, that’s what hurts the most.”
The Nuggets’ lead was 86-58, with 8:11 to go in the third quarter, when Utah had a great run. Jazz hit eight points out of 3 and beat Denver by 18 to reach 99-91.
“We cut the lead to one digit, but you give yourself a difficult hill to climb and a small margin of error and it has to be almost perfect,” said Jazz coach Quin Snyder.
Denver striker JaMychal Green had all nine points in the fourth period, when the Nuggets returned to lead to 20. Jokic equaled his career high with a tray at 2:05 from the end and sat at 1:39 of the finally, to the disappointment of his teammates.
“I’m oblivious. I have no idea at this point that Nikola is 47,” said Malone. “Jamal was kind of breaking my ribs with this, and I love the fact that he is thinking about his teammate.”
TIP-INS
Jazz: Derrick Favors had seven points and six rebounds on his return. He missed the previous two games because of pain in his lower back. Utah beat all but one opponent by double digits during a sequence of 11 consecutive wins. The only game played was a 109-105 victory over Denver on January 17. The winning streak was the longest of the team since a 12-game streak in 2009; the franchise record is 15 in 1996.
Nuggets: G Gary Harris (left adductor strain) did not play after the first quarter. He did not attempt a shot at 8:45 am from court time.
MUSIC CITY
Mitchell hit just 3 out of 12 field shots in the defeat, but said he had no problems with the concussion that kept him out of the previous two games.
“They started playing music loud as hell at the beginning of the game, so I think I’m fine,” he said. “I feel good, just trying to regain my pace. That’s the most important thing, but no real effect at all.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.