European show: Bogdanovic drops 36 to guide Jazz over Nuggets with phenomenal Jokic / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: AP, USA TODAY Sports-Scanpix Credit AP, USA TODAY Sports-Scanpix

Bojan Bogdanovic had a season-high 36 points and a career-best 13 rebounds, Rudy Gay scored 18 points and the visiting Utah Jazz (28-10) beat the Denver Nuggets (18-18) 115-109 (26-26, 31-30, 31-22, 27-31) on Wednesday night.

Player of the Game EFF 42 Bojan Bogdanovic Points 36 Accuracy 12-20 Rebounds 13 Assists 4

Donovan Mitchell scored 17 points, Royce O'Neale had 13 points and 11 rebounds, Jordan Clarkson also scored 13 and Mike Conley scored 10 for Utah, which has won 10 straight road games.

Nikola Jokic notched his 64th career triple-double with 26 points, 21 rebounds, and 11 assists, Monte Morris and Will Barton scored 20 points each and Aaron Gordon had 17 points for Denver.

The Nuggets were again without head coach Michael Malone as well as Jeff Green and Zeke Nnaji due to health and safety protocols. Assistant Popeye Jones served as the acting head coach for the third straight game.

The Jazz played without Rudy Gobert due to inflammation in his left shoulder and Joe Ingles entered health and safety protocol Tuesday. He is the first Utah player to be placed on the list this season.

The Jazz led by as many as eight in the second quarter. Denver briefly took a lead but Utah held a 57-56 advantage into halftime.

The Jazz opened the third quarter on a 13-4 run to go ahead 70-60. Barton drained a 3-pointer but O'Neale answered with one behind the arc. Bogdanovic and Mitchell made layups to make it 77-65 and prompt a Nuggets timeout.

Jokic scored the next eight points for Denver to cut the deficit to 80-73 but Bogdanovic hit two short jumpers and four free throws to stretch the lead to 88-78 entering the fourth quarter.

Clarkson hit the first bucket of the final period to extend the lead to 12 again. But the Nuggets got the deficit under double digits on a Barton jumper and made it 94-88 on a layup by Morris with 8:20 left.

The Jazz committed two turnovers and Morris hit a 3-pointer to get Denver within three. Clarkson hit a corner 3-pointer, Bogdanovic made a short hook, and O'Neale and Gay hit 3-pointers during an 11-4 run to make it 105-95, and Utah closed it out.

Jazz: Bojan Bogdanovic 36 (11/14 2PT, 1/6 3PT, 11/13 FT, 13 REB, 4 AST), Rudy Gay 18 (4/7 3PT, 7 REB, 2 BLK), Donovan Mitchell 17 (7/13 2PT, 1/9 3PT), Royce O'Neale 13 (3/6 3PT, 11 REB, 5 AST), Jordan Clarkson 13 (3/8 3PT), Mike Conley 10 (2/7 2PT, 2/4 3PT, 6 AST).

Nuggets: Nikola Jokic 26 (9/14 2PT, 5/6 FT, 21 REB, 11 AST, 2 BLK, 5 TO), Will Barton 20 (5/11 2PT, 2/6 3PT, 5 AST), Monte Morris 20 (5/9 3PT), Aaron Gordon 17 (7/7 2PT).

Nikola Jokic's performance

Full game highlights

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