Utah Jazz Defeats Denver Nuggets 118-103

Alec Burks scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets Monday night.

Derrick Favors added 19 points and 15 rebounds while Trey Burke had 18 points for the Jazz, who won their fifth game in the last six home starts.

Burks was filling in for Gordon Hayward, who sat out his second consecutive game after scoring a career-high 37 points — including the last 17 — in a win over Oklahoma City last Tuesday. The swingman strained his left hip flexor late in the game and his absence was apparent as Cleveland snapped Utah's four-game home winning streak on Friday, 113-102.

But Burks made his presence felt from the start and had 17 in the first half to help the Jazz run out to a 67-53 lead, the highest first-half total for the Jazz this season.

Ty Lawson had 23 points and J.J. Hickson scored 21 but the Nuggets trailed by as many as 24 points as they saw their improbable five-game winning streak come to an end.