Utah Jazz beat Nuggets to open season

Carlos Boozer had a good reason to be excited to get the 2008-09 season under way.

Boozer scored 25 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and scored a key bucket late in the fourth quarter to lead the Utah Jazz to a down-to-the-wire 98-94 win over the Northwest Division rival Denver Nuggets tonight at EnergySolutions Arena.

Though his favorite playmaker wasn't on the court, Boozer had plenty of help from his teammates in the win. Andrei Kirilenko came off the bench to score 16 points, while starters Ronnie Brewer (15 points) and Mehmet Okur (13 points) also had solid season debuts.

Kyle Korver added 11 points, including a pair of big foul shots with 12.5 seconds remaining — one coming after Denver was called for a lane violation.

The Jazz and Nuggets both played without missing star players. Utah starting point guard Deron Williams sat out with a sprained left ankle, and Denver's Carmelo Anthony missed due to a team suspension.

Ronnie Price, who started in place of Williams, also hit two free throws in the final seconds. He finished with six points and five assists.

Utah cruised to a 14-point lead toward the end of the third quarter, but that large advantage was short-lived. Denver, thanks to some hot shooting by J.R. Smith, rallied to tie the contest at 82-82 on a Renaldo Balkman steal-and-dunk.

The Jazz went on a 6-0 run from there and was able to maintain the slim lead.

The Jazz took a 50-46 lead into halftime, with Boozer scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds to lead the way early on.

Utah returns to action at 7 p.m. Saturday at home against the Los Angeles Clippers.