Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz Match Player Stats On Oct 18, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Oct 18, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY -- Rudy Gobert scored 18 points and collected 10 rebounds, and Alec Burks added 16 points off the bench to lift the Utah Jazz to a 106-96 victory over the Denver Nuggets in the season opener for both teams Wednesday night.

Derrick Favors added 14 points and Joe Johnson chipped in 13 for Utah. The Jazz used hot fourth-quarter shooting to rally after trailing by as many as 15 points, going 9 of 18 from the field over the final 12 minutes.

Will Barton scored 23 points to lead the Nuggets. Paul Millsap added 19 points in his Denver debut, and Gary Harris chipped in 14. The Nuggets could not overcome a cold shooting fourth quarter, making only five field goals over the final period.

Utah erased a double-digit deficit with a 31-5 run, highlighted by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Johnson to end the third quarter. Burks gave the Jazz the lead for good on another 3-pointer -- his first of the game -- early in the fourth.

Thabo Sefolosha finally capped the run with a three-point play, giving the Jazz a 104-88 lead with 3:44 remaining.

Barton ignited Denver's offense early with his sizzling shooting. He made his first seven shots from the field and churned out 21 points before halftime.

Those baskets came at critical junctures to fuel various first-half runs for the Nuggets. Barton scored a 3-pointer, hit a pair of free throws and made a dunk over three straight possessions to cap a 17-4 spurt that gave Denver a 24-16 lead.

Each time Utah whittled away the deficit during the second quarter, Barton keyed another run. The Jazz cut Denver's lead to 44-41 when Ricky Rubio fed Ingles for a pair of baskets and set up a Gobert dunk over a 42 second span. Barton answered with two free throws and a pull-up jumper on back-to-back possessions to quell the run.

It sparked another spurt for Denver, ending in back-to-back baskets from Harris that put the Nuggets up 56-47 with 1:42 left before halftime.

NOTES: Jazz G Donovan Mitchell replaced G Rodney Hood in the starting lineup a few seconds before tipoff. Hood went to the locker room because of gastric distress but returned to the bench a few minutes later. ... Nuggets C Nikola Jokic had 12 rebounds and eight assists, but he finished with only seven points after being held to 3-of-10 shooting. ... Jazz G Ricky Rubio had nine points and 10 assists in his Utah debut. He is the third-quickest active NBA player to hit 3,000 assists (Chris Paul, 304 games; John Wall, 347 games), doing it in 354 games. ... Denver has lost six straight games to Utah in Salt Lake City.