Jazz fall in Denver

The Utah Jazz continued their slumping ways against playoff-bound teams, losing an important Northwest Division showdown Sunday night against the Denver Nuggets.

Denver didn't have Carmelo Anthony, but four players more than made up for his absence by scoring 18-plus points apiece in a 117-97 blowout win for the Nuggets at the Pepsi Center.

Nene led the way for Denver with 28 points on 12-for-12 shooting to go with nine rebounds. Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith each added 22 points, and Linas Kleiza chipped in with 18 points.

Ronnie Brewer topped the struggling Jazz with 16 points, Deron Williams had another double-double with 15 points and 10 assists, while Paul Millsap and Mehmet Okur each had double-doubles with a dozen points and 10 rebounds.

But that wasn't nearly enough to counter the Nuggets, who improved their division-leading record to 29-15. The Jazz dropped to 25-20.

Utah played again without Andrei Kirilenko, who's been sidelined with an ankle injury during the Jazz's consecutive losses to Houston, Cleveland and Utah.

Denver built an 18-point lead by the second quarter. The Jazz trimmed that lead down to six just before halftime, but the Nuggets took a 60-51 lead into the locker room and then dominated the entire second half to win going away.

The Jazz have another tough match-up Tuesday at home against the San Antonio Spurs.

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