SALT LAKE CITY -- Derrick Favors scored 24 points, and the Utah Jazz used a dominant second half to pull away from the Denver Nuggets for a 106-77 victory on Tuesday night.
Rookie Donovan Mitchell added 16 points as Utah matched a season high with its third straight victory. Jonas Jerebko had 15 and Ricky Rubio finished with 13 points.
The Jazz opened the third quarter with a 20-6 run, and Denver never recovered. The Nuggets got a little loose with the ball after halftime and turned over the ball seven times in the third. The Jazz defense was more active and the Nuggets went cold from the field while Utah shot 52.6 percent from the field in the quarter.
The Jazz outscored the Nuggets 58-28 in the second half.
Favors outplayed Nikola Jokic on both ends of the floor and his aggressiveness on offense helped finish off the victory. He also had nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks.
Without Rudy Gobert, Rodney Hood and Joe Johnson, the Jazz got a group effort, with Mitchell, Jerebko and Rubio also coming up with big plays.
Gary Harris scored 14 of his 18 points for Denver in the first half, and Kenneth Faried had 11 points and eight rebounds.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Wilson Chandler did not play due to a lower back injury. Faried made his second start of the season in his place. Coach Michael Malone called Chandler day to day.
Jazz: Hood did not play due to left ankle soreness. Coach Quin Snyder said the injury has been gradually getting worse and the team has been monitoring it.
DIFFERENT LOOK
Nuggets forward Paul Millsap is out after having surgery on his left wrist. Malone explained the difference of having Faried on the floor more with Jokic.
"He and Kenneth have such great chemistry because Kenneth runs the floor and puts pressure on the rim," Malone said. "If he's not at the rim, he's working the baseline. Now you have Nikola up high post, elbow, making plays for everybody.
"That was the challenge early in the season with Paul Millsap and Nikola, we had five guys on the perimeter quite a bit. Didn't have anybody putting pressure on the rim. When you have somebody putting pressure on the rim, that forces somebody to account for that man. And therein lies an open man somewhere, and that's where Nikola's at his best. He finds the open man time and time again."
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Host Justin Holiday and the struggling Chicago Bulls on Thursday.
