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Jazz beat Nuggets for 3rd straight win

Apr 2, 2015 - 4:53 AM Salt Lake City, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - Rudy Gobert had a career-high 20 points with 12 rebounds and the Utah Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets 98-84 on Wednesday night for their third consecutive win.

First-round draft pick Dante Exum dished out a career-high 12 assists for the Nuggets and Derrick Favors scored 19 points.

"We played great," said Gobert. "We just have to stay focused until the end of the game."

Kenneth Faried had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the well-rested Nuggets, who fell to 0-2 on a three-game road trip that began with a 120-114 loss to Portland on Saturday. Ty Lawson added 15 points and Will Barton scored 13 in the loss.

Jameer Nelson and Barton hit 3-pointers to cap a 10-2 flurry that gave Denver a 29-22 lead after the first quarter.

But the Jazz used a 14-2 run in the second quarter to build a seven-point lead. Trey Burke made consecutive 3s and scored the first eight points in the flurry and Utah later stretched its advantage to 13 before going into halftime with a 54-42 lead.

Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt blamed himself for his team's lackluster second quarter.

"Our energy changed," he said. "I made some tough substitutions. I think I put some funky lineups in. It probably cost us a little bit of rhythm."

Gordon Hayward scored 12 of his 13 points in the third quarter and the Jazz held Denver under 27 percent shooting to build a 22-point lead entering the fourth. It never dipped below 13 the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Burke and Joe Ingles each scored 12 for Utah ... Both teams have already been eliminated from playoff contention ... The Jazz earned a 2-2 split in the season series ... Denver finishes its road trip on Friday against San Antonio ... Utah faces Phoenix and Sacramento on the road this weekend.