Jazz Take Down Nuggets With Big Fourth Quarter Run
Oct 26, 2021, 10:35 PM | Updated: 10:44 pm
Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz drives past Will Barton #5 of the Denver Nuggets during the first half of their game October 26, 2021 at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz needed a big fourth quarter run but was able to take down the Denver Nuggets with a 122-110 win on Tuesday night.
Utah jumped out to a 19-4 run to start the fourth quarter before outscoring the Nuggets 31-20 in the final period to pick up the win.
Rudy Gobert led the Jazz with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Donovan Mitchell had 22 points and 6 assists. Jordan Clarkson chipped in 19 points off the bench. Utah is one of two remaining teams in the Western Conference with an undefeated record.
Nikola Jokic had 24 to lead the Nuggets. Will Barton posted 21 points, while Aaron Gordon put up 20.
The @utahjazz run away from a very tired @nuggets team in the fourth quarter and win 122-110.
Rudy Gobert had 23 points on just 8 field goal attempts. #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/7dj6Egy0xO
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 27, 2021
Jazz Get Balanced Scoring In Tightly-Contested First Half
It was Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell that sparked the Jazz in the first quarter. They both dropped eight points in the opening period, with Conley making all three of his shot attempts including two three-pointers.
Aaron Gordon had 10 points in the first quarter, while Nikola Jokic added nine as the Jazz held a slim 35-31 lead at the end of the opening quarter. Jokic went off in the second quarter with 15 points, with the rest of the team scoring 18. For the Jazz, it was very balanced as seven players scored. Jordan Clarkson led the way with eight points, along with seven points from Joe Ingles.
The Jazz were outscored 33-31 by the Nuggets but had a 66-64 halftime lead. Late in the second quarter, Jokic and Gobert hit knees and the reigning MVP left the game and didn’t return.
At the half, the @utahjazz lead the @nuggets 66-64.
Jordan Clarkson an Donovan Mitchell have 12 points each, but the big story is Nikola Jokic leaving the floor late in the second quarter with a knee injury. #takenote pic.twitter.com/Mh9LvrFY6n
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 27, 2021
Jazz Take Down Nuggets After Big Run In Fourth Quarter
After Jokic went down, the Nuggets got a spark from Will Barton in the third quarter as he scored 16 of their 26 points in the period. Denver outscored Utah 26-25 and the Jazz had a 91-90 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Bojan Bogdanovic led the way with eight points in the quarter, along with seven points from Mitchell.
The Jazz started the fourth quarter on a 19-4 run. Michael Porter Jr. hit a three-pointer to give the Nuggets a 93-91 lead. Conley answered with a three of his own and Clarkson followed with a layup to put the Jazz up 96-93. Jeff Green stopped the short run with a jumper before Gobert added a bucket. With the Jazz holding a 100-95 lead after another layup by Gobert, the big man made two free throws. Will Barton hit a stepback jumper to trim the deficit to 102-97. Hassan Whiteside got an alley-oop layup and two free throws to give the Jazz a nine-point lead.
The run reached the end when Monte Morris hit a three-pointer to cut Utah’s 110-97 lead down to 10 with 3:45 to play.
The Jazz improved their record to 3-0 on the season. They will hit the road for a three-game trip beginning in Houston on Thursday, October 28 at 6 p.m. MT on The Zone Sports Network and AT&T SportsNet.
