Agbaji scores 28, rallies Jazz past Nuggets 118-114

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) —OchaiAgbaji scored a career-high 28 points to lead the Utah Jazz to a118-114 victory over the Western Conference leading Denver Nuggetson Saturday.

Luka Samanic finished with a career-high 23 points and eightrebounds for Utah. Kris Dunn chipped in 19 points, a season-high 14assists and eight rebounds. Simone Fontecchio added 15 points.

The Jazz snapped a four-game losing streak and won for just thesecond time in 10 games. Their zone defense limited the Nuggets to35 total shots in the paint. Utah, on the other hand, scored 32baskets in the paint.

“We did a good job tonight making Denver play a type of gamethey don’t want to play,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “We wantedthem to play over the top of us if they were going to beat us.”

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored a season-high 21 points for theNuggets. Jamal Murray added 20 points and five assists. AaronGordon and Michael Porter Jr. chipped in 15 points apiece. NikolaJokic tallied 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Denver lost for the fifth time in six games.

“We started off very slow, but we picked it up second quarterand end of the third quarter,” Caldwell-Pope said. “For us to startthat way, we can’t come out slow like that.”

After trailing the entire first half, Denver surged ahead latein the third quarter. Caldwell-Pope buried back-to-back 3s to sparka 19-4 run that gave the Nuggets a 95-87 lead. Murray and Gordonpunctuated the decisive run with two more outside baskets.

Utah rallied in the fourth quarter with Denver’s starters on thebench. Agbaji scored three baskets to key a 10-1 run that put theJazz up 116-110 in the final minute.

He bounced back from a tough outing against the Los AngelesLakers on Thursday by putting together one of his best rookieseason performances on Saturday – with his family inattendance.

“I just feel like after the last game, I had to kind of showthem something a little bit more,” Agbaji said.

Agbaji also lit a fire under the Jazz offense in the firstquarter. He made five baskets and scored 12 points overall to helpUtah sprint out to a 26-8 lead.

Denver struggled out of the gates. The Nuggets missed seven oftheir first eight shots and committed four turnovers in the firstsix minutes to fall behind by double digits.

“Horrendous start to the game,” Denver coach Michael Malonesaid. “We just kind of showed up but give Utah credit because theybuilt a 19-point lead early on.”

Denver nearly erased the deficit late in the second quarter.Jokic made a layup and assisted two other baskets to fuel a 12-0run that cut Utah’s lead to 54-53 in the final minute beforehalftime.

The Nuggets took their first lead of the game early in the thirdquarter when Porter buried a 3-pointer to put Denver up 61-58.

FALSE START

The opening moments of the game turned into a comedy oferrors.

Jokic committed a loose ball foul on the opening tip. Agbajiimmediately countered with a turnover when he tried to hand theball to Dunn instead of throwing an inbound pass.

“Weird way to start off the game, but it was fine,” Agbajisaid.

TIP-INS

Nuggets: Jokic was held to six points on 2-of-5 shooting.Caldwell-Pope blocked two shots, matching a season-high, and went6-of-8 from 3-point range.

Jazz: Micah Potter finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds –both career highs. Dunn had three steals, matching his season high.Only nine Utah players dressed for the game.

UP NEXT

Nuggets host the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.

Jazz visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.