Nuggets at Jazz final score: Utah cruises 118-103

The Utah Jazz got 34 points from guard Alec Burks and cruised to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets at the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah Monday night.

Burks added five assists and three rebounds, shot 13-of-19 from the floor and hit all eight of his free throw attempts.

Derrick Favors had 19 points and 15 rebounds and rookie Trey Burke scored 18 points and dished out eight assists.

The Nuggets got 23 points and 11 assists from Ty Lawson and 21 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks from J.J. Hickson, but it clearly wasn’t enough to keep the Nuggets in the game.

After a competitive first quarter ended with a 35-31 Jazz lead, the Jazz defense clamped down in the second quarter, outscoring the Nuggets 32-22 to take a 14-point lead into the break. They pushed the lead to 24  at the 5:05 mark in the third quarter and cruised from there.

Veteran Richard Jefferson scored 16 points and Enes Kanter scored 11.

The Jazz shot 55.7% from the field, 44.4% from beyond the arc and knocked down 22 of their 29 free throws while holding the Nuggets to 44.0% shooting from the field and 28.0% from three. The Nuggets were just 22-of-35 (62.9%) from the free throw line.

The Jazz improve to 13-26 while the Nuggets fall to 19-18.