Jamal Murray scored 27 points for the host Denver Nuggets, who opened the game with a 19-0 run on their way to a 135-112 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
Nikola Jokic contributed 14 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists for the Nuggets, who shot 24-for-46 from deep to tie a franchise record for made 3-pointers.
Tim Hardaway Jr. had 21 points off the Denver bench, hitting 6 of 11 from long range. Peyton Watson scored 20 points in his return from a two-game injury absence, and Cameron Johnson also had 20 points on 6-for-6 shooting from deep. Murray made 6 of 12 3-point attempts.
Bruce Brown scored 15 points while Jonas Valanciunas added 12 points and 11 rebounds as Denver won for the seventh time in eight games.
Utah endured a similarly cold start on Dec. 5, falling behind 23-0 to the New York Knicks.
The Los Angeles Lakers have the record for most consecutive points to open an NBA game with 29, which they did against the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 4, 1987.
Lauri Markkanen scored 27 points for Utah, which lost its third game in a row. Keyonte George finished with 20 points and seven assists and Jusuf Nurkic had 17 points and 14 rebounds. Brice Sensabaugh put up 14 points.
The Nuggets hit seven of their first nine shots, five from deep, while Utah missed its first 10 from the field and turned it over twice. Sensabaugh finally broke the drought with a 3-pointer, but Denver went on a 14-2 run to lead 33-5 with 4:42 left in the first quarter.
The Jazz scored eight straight points, but the Nuggets held a 40-15 lead after the first quarter.
Johnson hit a 3-pointer to make it 48-20 early in the second quarter. However, Utah outscored Denver 31-29 in the period and trailed 69-46 at intermission.
The Nuggets led 94-67 after a running 3-pointer by Murray with 4:20 left in the third quarter before the Jazz used a 12-2 run to get within 17. Denver scored the next seven points, but Sensabaugh’s dunk cut the deficit to 103-84 heading into the fourth.
Nurkic’s tip-in with 10:07 left made it 105-88, but Hardaway hit a trio of 3-pointers to put the Nuggets ahead by 26.
–Field Level Media
