Utah Jazz basketball: Nuggets big Kenneth Faried stars as Denver hands Utah yet another road loss

"But it's a difficult thing. You've got to step up to the challenge of doing it, and if you're going have a great season, you have to take care of your business on the road and we have to get it figured out. ... I don't think we've put together a 48-minute game yet."

Gordon Hayward led a cold-shooting, turnover-plagued Jazz team with 15 points, while Randy Foye and Enes Kanter each added 13 off the bench. Paul Millsap chipped in with 11 points and Derrick Favors had a solid night with 10 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots — all in the first half. Jefferson had 11 rebounds but scored just four points for Utah, which shot just 37 percent from the field — including a woeful 4 of 23 from 3-point range — and turned the ball over 17 times.

Along with Faried, the Nuggets got solid performances from reserve Corey Brewer, who scored a game-high 20 points on the strength of five 3-pointers. Starting center Kosta Koufos, the guy who the Jazz traded away to get Jefferson in 2010, turned in a strong effort with 15 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks — surprisingly outplaying Big Al by a wide margin. Andre Iguodala added 15 points and seven boards for the Nuggets, and Ty Lawson contributed nine points, seven assists and three steals. But Faried was really the guy "with dreads" that got Denver kick-started on its way to victory.

"His energy is contagious," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "It is a big part of why we were successful and it is going to have to be a big part of what we do this year.

"The second quarter was probably the best defensive quarter in a long time and offensively, I thought Ty (Lawson) was assertive early in the game and got us a lot of early baskets. He got us a lot of easy shots.

"The keys to the game were Mo Williams and Al Jefferson were 2-for-15," Karl said.

"It wasn't a pretty game, but it was a strongly well-played game."

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